Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Running

I feel like I am finally back after my muscle pull. That was not fun. Stretching and warming up are now much more important to me than they were. I did my 3 miles this morning. Now I am going to work on my pace and endurance on the 3 miles for the next week or so then start adding. My goal is to run 1/4 marathon in November which is a little over 7 miles. I think this is a reasonable goal that is attainable for me. I have found not to set those huge long term goals shorter works better for me.

It amuses me that people say I have inspired them. I so don't look at myself that way. However it does make me smile and maybe put a little more run in my step the next day when I am thinking about it.

Some have asked how I got started well here it is. January 2 I decided I was going to lose weight I said it was to be healthier but at that time I didn't yet have the proper mindset I was still too hung up on the scale. I watched what I ate, but I didn't really exercise regularly I would more play at it here and there. In May I had lost about 25 pounds but I really wasn't feeling better. Starting mid May I was talking to a friend who is an inspiration to me and she had started running. I was like okay I might enjoy that. My first day out I huffed and puffed out 1 mile of walking. However after I felt pretty good. I continued knowing I had to keep pushing myself. I worked up gradually first working up to walking a mile easily, then 2 then adding running in and then walking until I could run 3 miles. I never understood the term runners high because hey this is exercise and believe me I am a couch potato. But there is such a thing as a runners high and passing that finish line on the 5K was a just wonderful feeling of accomplishment. It was not an easy path believe me I wanted to quit so many times, I had weird issues like my toenails would bleed, muscle aches things I had to push through but the end result is so worth it. Now I feel awful during the day if for some reason I did not get to get out that morning.

My next race is August 16 it is a 5K my goal is to finish it at a better pace than I did my first one on July 3. After that I will be running in September another 5K and continue to work up to the quarter marathon in November.

Running is fun never thought I would say that but it is. Also my health has improved soooo much my blood pressure is the lowest it has been in years. I am weaning off some blood pressure heart medication successfully.

There is a lot of fun events as well. I am getting my kids involved in the kids run in Tulsa, OK in November it is with the marathon events. Cool Running is a site where you can look up events for your state. Here is a begin to run article.

3 comments:

Stacey said...

good for you!

Unknown said...

Yeah GO KELLI

Jody said...

Go Kelli!! That's great. I really need some motivation I think LOL. I am afraid to even walk down our road though since there is no sidewalk and the speed limit is 50 miles an hour and believe me most go way faster than that LOL!!! Keep up the good work :D