I have a neighbor that I have gotten to know much better this year as her daughter started kindergarten and rides the bus with Ben and Annie. We chat each morning and each afternoon. She like to run and was getting ready for a marathon last October. Over the course of a several days, my confidence was boosted just enough for me to convince 2 of my siblings that they wanted to run a 15K with me while we were in Dallas. :) My neighbor said she'd help me get ready. It was so great to have support each morning and afternoon! Then I found a lady from church who loves to run. She let me borrow a few books to read, as well as her old gps watch to train with. And - I was off!!!
I had two major turning points during this training process. First, an email from a very athletic cousin who basically told me I COULD run 3 miles without stopping and just go DO IT. I did- and felt great! Second, a friend came to town to visit her mom for Thanksgiving. We did a 4-mile Fun Run on Thursday, then she did my 8 mile long run with me (at my pace instead of hers...quite a bit slower!). We found that the lap I had been doing my training on were actually 1.1 miles - we ended up running 9 miles that day. I knew I could do 9.3 in four weeks. I just knew it!
I had signed Andy up for the race. He did great going to the gym through September, slowed down in October, and just hit a few times in November. I didn't think he was still going to run with us since he hadn't gone more than 5 miles. However, did I mention that my pace is pretty slow?!? I followed Jeff Galloway's Run/Walk method...and highly recommend it! The first mile we ran for a minute/walked for a minute. 2nd mile we ran for 2 minutes/walked for 1 minute. By the 3rd mile we were up to pace with running 3 minutes/walking 1 minute...until Nancy's legs started having issues. We had the most beautiful day in Dallas but a bunch of hills.... My brother Rusty was just there to keep us company. He did break a sweat, but more because it was warm outside. :) We had fun just doing it together! Bonus: we weren't too sore later on to dance the night away at Roy's wedding!
It was a fantastic experience and definitely one I want to repeat. Guess what? A friend told me about a 1/2 marathon in Akron...on a Saturday...that happens to be our 12th anniversary. We have 3 months to get ready!!!
2 comments:
Good for you! 15K is a long distance.
Would that happen to be the ROadrunner akron half marathon?? Josh and I did that last year, it was a killer but we loved it, it was such a great accomplishment. This year we are going to go for the Akron Roadrunner Full Marathon, I am pretty sure I will be in a wheel chair for the next week after the race, but thats one thing I have learned through training the last year, is you just gotta do it :) Way to go Lindsey, I am proud of you!! :)
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