It all started when I went away to graduate school. I no longer had a large school with a dance team I could participate in and definitely didn't have the money with tuition and housing to take classes. I moved out to California for graduate school and since running was cheap and easy (and the weather was forever nice in CA) I thought I would try it out. I started out easy and found the Couch to 5K running plan. It was awesome! It was so easy to follow and built up nice and slowly so it didn't kill you. I loved it and when I finished I didn't know what to do with myself until I found a 10K plan. I continued with my running to try a 10K running plan, but was somewhat skeptical I would ever actually be able to run over 6 miles. As it turns out, if you train, it really isn't all that terrible. Again, saying all this as someone who had NEVER run before in my life. Dance is so much different than running because while practices are long, you only actually put your all into a 3 or 4 minute time period. So, learning to sustain your energy is a big transition.
As I began my running journey I learned that people I went to church and school with were also interested so we started running together and I got a lot of my friends going with the whole idea of running. We started running in groups and finally decided to train for a HALF MARATHON. That's right people, a half which just so happens to be 13.1 miles. I mean, that is double what my 10K training would have required me to do, but I jumped on the band wagon anyway. I posted my schedule on my wall and began training. I ran for a year straight with a very regimented schedule of four days a week with my long run on Saturdays and doing weights after my runs. I did it, I never ran a half because I never wanted to pay for it, but I trained for it and I did it.
When I moved home, I slacked a bit on the running. Let's be honest, I slacked a lot. Moving from California to Indiana is quite a move and it takes A LOT of time and energy and for a few weeks before hand and the few weeks after I moved I hardly worked out at all. I knew I needed to because I felt blah. When I was running I felt awake and healthy and overall happy and as excited as I was to move home to my friends, family, and boyfriend I still knew I needed to work out. So, I finally started sort of working out again, but not a ton of running because the humidity is awful then it was because it got so cold and so I would do work out videos instead. Those are great, but they just aren't the same. Before the wedding it started to warm up and I did start running again with the dog, who loved it. I always walked him before, but he really just loved running. I knew that it was something I really wanted to start again.
Now I get a new beginning again. I get to start a schedule in my new life and I have plenty of time since I don't have a job yet. I don't want to injure myself because there is no better excuse than that to stop working out so I am starting from scratch. I'm doing weights everyday and doing a Pooch to 5K running plan so I don't kill myself or the dog! I did start on the 3rd week since I had been doing a little running and wasn't completely starting over so to say. Now I am not only doing for myself, but I have a running partner again. Buchanan loves going on his runs. He knows that when I pull out his running harness it's time. He sits still to put it on then goes and sits by his leash until I put it on him. I am excited to be starting again and hope that if you live in the Des Moines area and want a running partner you will let me know OR keep me in check via comments. I want to stick with it and maybe actually run a half marathon now that we have an income and I'm out of school :)
This is Buchanan...come ON mom! The harness is on, let's not take pictures, let's GO! :) He is annoyed haha Don't worry though, we left one second after that. Let me know if you are interested in running or running programs I'd love to help!!!
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