Rebecca: Round three – “First”

The last time I resumed running; I knew I’d never quit again.

The fact that I even resumed running after a year and a half hiatus is applause-worthy enough because the worst thing for me about resuming running was that I always remembered the end of my last bout with running instead of the beginning. Instead of remembering and commiserating at how difficult it was to start running again, I instead compared my current progress with my then advanced level of fitness. It’s humbling starting from scratch when you have a vivid memory of what you were able to do!

Having grown up and acquired life experience, I refused to go balls to the wall and be burnt out in less than 2 weeks. Yet, I struggled with accepting the reality that I couldn’t start training at the levels I had been running before I quit. Plus, that one time at band camp I had been thrown off a treadmill before because I bumped up the speed too high, lost my balance and was catapulted against the wall behind me…. lord help me, I wasn’t going to do that again at Life Time during peak gym hours.

I started gradually in January, with a couch to 5k program. By summertime I was running as I saw fit, as in no real schedule but whenever I felt like it, maybe 1-2x a week. People started talking about the Disney Princess Half on Twitter, and since Ariel is my favorite princess, I knew I was ready to train for a Half Marathon. Lord knew, I had no clue what was awaiting me, and so I signed up for my first Half Marathon, 8 months out.

Despite having acquired a vast amount of knowledge leading up to my training, and having great resources online, I lacked the basic knowledge of what to expect from making the transition from casual/part-time runner to full fledged racer. So, let me save you the heartache and embarrassment, bestowed upon me by an employee of a local running store that couldn’t believe I wasn’t singing the praises of training.

1. I love running but I love other things too

Running is not my first love. It’s one of those things I never thought/had desire to do. Then again, as a kid we didn’t have an awesome program like Girls on the Run that would foster my relationship with running, but truth is… why would I want to run, and run, and run some more?

Yet, running has become an important part of my life. I’ve made friends, I blog about it and on solo runs, I use it as a time where I can think without being disrupted. But… I had love’s before running. I strength-trained, I Zumba’d… running is a piece of the puzzle, not the whole puzzle.

2. Planning… what?!

Sure, I had weekly workout goals, but nothing prepared me for the intensity of training. I wasn’t looking at a daily or even a weekly training schedule but months… MONTHS of training!  I tried not to get too far ahead of myself, but truth is I felt overwhelmed and stressed. It was just a whole new ballgame.

3. Climate

I had no clue why I thought that training in the winter would prepare me for the Florida heat. When I hit the Starting Line the morning of my half, at 6 AM it was already 88 degrees! I had been training in 12 – 20 degree weather. I wasn’t completely unprepared, but I probably should have layered a little more to get acclimated to the extreme heat.

4. Injury

1 month out and I started experiencing hip pain. I have a few theories as to how/why I got hurt: it could have been the fact I was doing high knee’s through the snow, or maybe that new strength training routine I tried 4 weeks before my Half to look my sveltest, or maybe I was overtraining. I am not a “5x a week” runner. 3 days a week plus 1 – 2 x on the elliptical is plenty for me.

5. Expectations

Don’t compare yourself and be realistic of what you can achieve. I was severally disappointed by my Half time when I should have been ecstatic that I finished, and in 1 piece! Don’t get caught up in other peoples time, or let other’s comments regarding your time make you feel any less than what you deserve.

Even with all these lessons learned, I still ended up finishing, and looking pretty darn cute too.