It's National Running Day!

Yay! It's National Running Day!

I did my part and ran 3 miles this morning :)

Thought I'd celebrate with a quick personal history regarding all things running.

2 years ago, I was 200 lbs. I was living with my mom temporarily while my husband was in South Korea. When he came home he had 2 weeks of leave before we moved to Georgia. He told me he had to pass a PT test once he inprocessed with his new unit, so we took a few days to hit the gym (I did ok with this for being 200 lbs, but it was painfully sore afterwards) One day he tells me "I need to go running" So we went for a run in my mom's neighborhood - in the middle of summer. I struggled to run for 30 seconds without taking AT LEAST a 2 minute walk break. We ran up a huge hill. He was so far ahead of me, and here I was huffing and puffing just trying to stay moving. He kept yelling "Come on sweetheart, keep running!" But I just couldn't. More importantly, I didn't want to. This was stupid. What's the point of suffering trying to run when I could just walk? This was my mentality on that day.

Here I am - 2 years later, 35 lbs lighter and 3 pants sizes smaller. I can run for over an HOUR without stopping if I want to. I have run 13 miles without stopping. I am faster than ever - my record time for the mile run in grade school was 9:30, at my all out absolute best. Like, I wanted to die when it was over. This morning I woke up at 5am, and within 20 minutes of waking up I did that x3, with no food in my stomach. Easily. Now my record for a mile run is more like 7:45.

I have run several 5k's, a 10k, a half marathon, some trail runs, and an armada of obstacle races. Now I look forward to running. Crave it, even. Does it ever get easier? No. But I have gotten better at it. I always strive to go faster, harder, longer (heh, heh) This summer I will be increasing my mileage once again in preparation for some upcoming distance races. I will be running on trails more often - and HILLS. So many hills.

Prior to now, I never DREAMED I would one day come to love running. And it wasn't easy. I had to (and still do) have to push past the suck and endure the uncomfortable. But in doing so, I get to be outside in nature, enjoy the sights/sounds/smells, clear my mind a little bit, MOVE my body the way it was MEANT to move, feel powerful and strong, feel my heart and lungs working hard - I get to feel ALIVE. And I always feel great afterwards. Runner's high - it's a real thing.

National Running Day - 2 years in, and hopefully many years ahead. I can't wait to see where the journey takes me.