Running? Sure, Let's Do It!

January 19th- This whole adventure started out with an everyday text conversation with my sister-in-law Courtney. We were talking about how it would be neat to be able to just go out for a run for enjoyment. We were going back and forth about how awesome that would be and what amazing shape we would be in (grin) etc...Courtney had heard about an app you can get that give you a "trainer" to get you ready for 5k, 10k, half marathon, etc...We talked about how we could use the fitness center at the apartments where I live and also how we could measure different roads and things and work up to doing that too...next thing I know she says...Okay see you tomorrow.

January 20th- First day of training. lol Yes we are hardcore.
We met up at the fitness center at around 7 I think...so that I could have time to get to work after we were done. The app I had downloaded had all of those different options of what to train for...we thought the logical thing was to go ahead and train for a longer distance (obviously ;) ) so we started with the "marathon" training. When all was said and done by the end we had decided to be a bit less enthusiastic and go for "10k" training.

January 21-January 28th

Courtney and I were consistent in going to the fitness center and following the instructions the app gave us for each day...we were feeling pretty good and confident about our running progress...Our friend Missy heard that we were starting to work out and about our running goals and she was all for wanting to join in the fun.

January 29th

Courtney, and I met up at a local park to see what it was like to run outside in the cold and decided to start out slow....well apparently running inside on a treadmill and running outside in the elements are completely different! I don't know about Courtney but I felt like I was starting over again at day 1...I don't think we made it far...maybe to the quarter mile before we were out of breathe and ready to walk a bit...

So we would run a little then walk and catch our breathe again....lather rinse repeat...you get the idea :)

January 30th

The Road Runners Team first run (aka Missy joined in!) We knew from the previous day that we are no match for running outside and following the app..so we decided to "fartlick" (even though we didn't know that's what it was called at the time) we would each take turns picking a landmark to run to then walk for a while until one of us called out another destination to run to....

Since it has been almost an entire year since we started running I am not going to bore you with the details of each run but we slowly worked up to running with out stopping first to a half mile, 3/4 mile, then ONE MILE! That was a big run in my mind- I remember it well- I wanted to stop so bad! I kept thinking "I think they moved the mile marker because we should have gotten there by now!!" we made it- very out of breathe but feeling very excited at our progress!

We kept building slowly from there and signed up for our first run- a 5K on March 5th. Signing up for the race gave us an extra boost of motivation and excitement...we worked up to running 3 miles and that is another run that I remember so well! We did it. 3 miles!! We ran across the "finish" line and all fell to the ground gasping for breathe! We had done it but oh man was it hard!

Along the way of building up to the 3 miles we had been training in ice, snow, freezing temps...but we were committed- we were going to run in that 5K!! We would bundle up until we were no longer even recognizable and set out on our run- often times calling out "Ice!" if you were the leader so that the other two wouldn't slip...yes, we were that hardcore ;) We went daily on our runs and became slightly addicted. When we had to miss running for a few days because of a snow storm we went a lil stir crazy and considered braving the roads just so that we could get in our runs!

Okay so I have pretty much caught up to our first 5K and I will write about that (or one of us will)

On another day ;)

-Abbie :)