SR Running Story

 I grew up being active, playing sports, and chasing wild animals in Alaska but never really running much.  I ran a year of cross country in high school and occasional 3-4 milers in college when my pants were getting tight.

(I’m completely faking it here and posing)

After getting engaged I started running more often, but after the wedding I didn’t run consistently, taking months off at a time. After you don’t run for awhile, it gets harder and harder to start again, and once you do, you run so slow and breath so hard that you wonder if you might have developed asthma in the last week or if you were born with a black lung and never knew it.

(Game face, baby.  Headed to an early morning race as witnessed by the GINORMOUS bags under my eyes and the hernia I’m givng myself.  sexy.)

Fastforward to spring of 2008. My girlfriend Reese, a marathon runner, asked if I wanted to run the Nike/Tiffany Womens’ Marathon and Half in San Francisco in October.  Being dumb, naive and not thinking we would actually get in, I said yes. (The race is so big you have to sign up early to get in a lottery to get picked to get the chance to go torture yourself).

We got in, signed up for the half, and all was gravy.  I headed up to Alaska to go fishing, expecting to get back in August and start training.

(Me and hubs after the San Francisco race doing some sight seeing at the waterfront.  Tried to send husband to Alcatraz.  As an inmate not tourist… Didn’t work)

The summer went way longer than expected, and I didn’t get back until October 1!  The race was the 18th, and I hadn’t done any cardio in 4 months. Slightly nervous at this point and thinking of ways to back out by faking injuries, having an unneeded surgery, something…

Not only was the race two weeks away but I went on a weeklong cruise to the Carribbean in that time span too.  I did run once for 30 mins on the ship, but that was the extent of my half marathon training.

So the race comes, and I’m bound and determined to finish whether I have to knock someone out of a wheelchair or borrow some kid’s wheelie shoes, I am gonna get my Tiffany necklace from the tuxedo’ed firemen.  God listened to my nervous cries because I had a great time and ran the entire thing. I actually, dare I say, liked it?!  It probably didn’t hurt that they were handing out Ghiradelli chocolates on the course…

I ran with my friend and finished in 2:15.  And the fun run passion was ignited….  That race was probably my proudest running moment of my extremely short running career because I had literally ran two 30 and 40 mins training runs before running a half.

(After my 2nd marathon RnR Arizona, with my mama)

Since then I’ve started running more races because it gives me motivation to keep running.  I don’t really consider myself a runner because I don’t follow a training program; I don’t do tempo runs, sprints, track workouts, etc.  I just try to run as much as possible to stay in shape.  And to not have to buy pants from the Big & Tall Store.

Some weeks that’s a lot and other weeks the couch whispers sweet nothings in my ear.  I always try to beat my personal time in a race but it’s not a big deal to me if I don’t since I’m really just running to burn off the cupcake the size of my head that I ate last night and not trying to beat Pre’s records.

(Another early morning race.  What is wrong with me and my face?  Seriously, what mental disease do I have that I don’t know about??)

I ran my first marathon in December 2009, qualified for Boston and kept on running more marathons.  I’ve done 18 in the past 18 months (while taking months off in the summer to commercial fish in Alaska).

I run because it keeps me sane… and that whole shopping at Big & Tall Store thing.