It all begins!

Let me start of by telling you a little about myself and how this all came about. My name is Katie and I am 27 years old. I am married to a wonderful supportive man, who I have been with for almost 10 years. We have been married for 1 year, have no kids, but have a wonderful miniature pinscher named Brooklyn. I am not a runner, in fact I am not very athletic or very active. I am a pretty lazy person. I am currently unemployed. I got laid off about 10 months ago do to a restructure. This has been a very hard time for me, ffinancially and emotionally. Especially since I have applied for at least 100 jobs and have only received 2 call backs. That does not make a person feel very good, let me tell you. Because I am unemployed I have little money, so I can't do much. Therefore I spend a lot of time on my couch watching TV or working on my computer. I play softball once a week, which is about the most activity I get aside from a walk every once in a while. So, as you can guess I am out of shape and can barely run to first base without getting tired. 

A little over a month ago my grandmother passed away from leukemia. My grandma was a wonderful loving person who cared about everyone. She would take care of others before herself. My grandpa calls her an Angel and she sure was. Because of this my mom found a group called Team In Training who raises money for leukemia and other blood diseases while training individuals to run a Marathon/half marathon. They also train for biking, hiking and a few other things. This is how the idea to start running came about. Not being a runner, I thought long and hard but decided that I can train for a half marathon, why not. At first I considered training to walk the half marathon, but I know I can run it if I really believe in myself. After deciding this, my mom and I realized that this year is crazy busy for us and that we are not able to dedicate the time and effort to raise the amount of money we would like. Therefore we are going to wait until next year.

Well next year is a long time to wait. That is why I decided I want to start running now, get in shape and be ready for next year. I need something in my life to change. I am a little overweight and would love to shed some pounds. Also I have really high cholesterol and know that I need to do something or I will probably have a heart attack at the age of 35. My diet is not too healthy, so I will try to work on that as well. My problem with my diet is I am a very picky eater and I am allergic to most fruit, so it eliminates a lot of items. Either way, I need a life makeover. I want to boost my self-esteem and believe in myself that I can do it. I decided to start small and train for the Anoka Halloween Run that is 3 miles. So here we go!

Today I went on my first run. I wore my old tennis shoes, cotton shorts that kept riding up, a polyester shirt since I was told cotton is bad, and a sports bra that was a little too small. I think if I keep this up I need to invest in some really workout clothes, wouldn't you say? I planned to start with a mile today. I figured that would be an achievable goal without pushing myself too much on the first day. I stretched before going. Only for a couple minutes though. I started walking with my mp3 player going and a bottle of water in my hand. I walked to the end of the road (.15 miles) and deiced it was time to start running. I ran .55 miles, looked at my watch and realized it had only been 7 minutes. I thought I should go further because otherwise I would have only been out for 10 minutes and that is not really a great workout. So I turned the opposite direction of my house and kept on running. I ran another .37 miles making it a total of .92 miles total of running at one time. I really needed to walk at that time. I was able to concentrate on breathing throughout my running, but I was sure out of breath and needed to walk. So I walked for a half a mile. The whole time I was thinking, "Why did I decide to keep going. Know I have ran myself a mile away from my house and I have to make my way all the way back. I am crazy. Not to mention I left my house at 10:45am and it was already past 11am. I think it had to be at least 80 degrees outside if not more. It was hot, sunny and I was drained. But I had to keep going. I didn't have a choice.

So I decide it was time to try and run again. I only made it .22 miles and needed to walk. I walked the last 3/4 of a mile home. I thought I was going to die. My head hurt so bad and still does almost a hour and a half later. My face was burning up, even after I took a cold shower it was still bright red and hot. I was also sweating so bad it was just dripping off my face. Kind of gross! But I made it home. I was out for a total of 41 minutes and made it exactly 2.5 miles, with 1.14 of that running. I got home and wanted to pass out, but I didn't. I stretched a little more. However the top of my right leg hurts. I tried to stretch it more, but there is still pain. It almost feels like I pulled a muscle, but not quite as bad. I think it is just tired.

Overall, I went a mile and a half longer then I planned. Even though it took me 41 minutes to run 2.5  miles I am still very proud of myself. I think it is a great start to my training. I lack motivation to keep running, but I think after this, I know I can do it.