If you told me last August that I’d be training for a half marathon right now, I would have laughed in your face. I was still struggling to run twenty minutes without stopping. If you told me I’d be writing a blog about how much I love running, I would have laughed so hard I fell over. (Which then would have been an excuse not to run.)
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| Andrew, last August on a family stroller run. I was struggling to run twenty minutes without stopping. |
When I signed up for the Diva’s Half Marathon back in April, the thought of running a half marathon seemed like a crazy dream, something I wasn’t sure was even possible. At the time, I was training for my first 10k but had never run more than 5 miles without stopping.
I sat down and talked to Greg about it. We slept on it. We talked more, in hushed tones. Was this doable in 16 weeks? Did I have the willpower… did I WANT to do this? I signed up. We told NO ONE until after I’d successfully completed my 10k… it seemed so crazy, so insane that I would think I could do this, that it was a huge secret.
Now there’s no doubt in my mind that I will complete this half marathon. Now, after running 10 miles twice, and 9 miles twice before that, I’m starting to realize that I’ll be ready four and a half weeks from now. I can do this. I will do this.
It no longer even sounds weird to talk to other runners about how I’m training for a half.
When did this become normal? Yet, somehow, it did. By adding a mile to my longest run every other week, I have gradually shifted the idea of 13.1 into normalcy. Each long run does more than build my legs, it builds my mind.
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| Out for an “easy” four miles with Mom. A year ago I wouldn’t have believed I could call four miles easy! |
The scary thing is that I now understand how someone could start running marathons. I don’t see one in my future! But now that I’ve experienced the shift between dreaming of running 3 miles without stopping, to believing that in a month I’ll run 13.1, well, I can see how bigger and bigger things become possible. Whatever your current running dream is, if you work gradually towards it, you’ll see it shift to reality. Then comes the scary question. What’s next?
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Love it! You rock girlfriend! 😉
Thanks Ivayla! How’s your half marathon training going? Longest run yet? I am scheduled for 11-12 on Thursday morning and I am kind of nervous… especially after vacation last week with no long runs… eeeeeek!
I’m anxious to call 3 miles an easy run!! But as your post points out – my 1 mile without stopping is already here and knowing that with the exception of a 3 minute walk my two miles is here too!
You’re at such a great point because you’re improving so drastically – it’ll feel great when you get to three miles being “easy”! Until, of course, you decide to run those three miles faster. That’s the tricky part, is making sure you take time to enjoy your accomplishments! There was a time when running 90 seconds without stopping scared me. That’s awesome.
you are such an inspiration and make me believe i can do it too, thank you for that! very exciting
Thank you so much 🙂 I’m glad to hear it, because you can do it to… it takes time, but when I look back over the last year I’m amazed at what can happen when you stick with it! And I’m not always working as hard as I “should” be either!
Funny how by just adding a mile every other week, the normal keeps changing and growing! As a good friend of mine always says, keep showing up and good things will happen.
Is it one of your awesome friends from your recent blog post of you guys golfing in the farm shirts? LOVE it. 🙂
I sometimes tell new runners that the day I ran 20 minutes continuously felt like almost as big of an accomplishment as crossing the finish line of my first marathon. Getting started and building endurance is so tough at the beginning!
I COMPLETELY relate to that. Well, except for the marathon part, obviously, since I’m not even close to that! But the mental shift between “I can only run for five minutes” to “I can run thirty!” is bigger than “I can run over an hour.. bet I could make it to two” because by the time you’re experienced enough to run for an hour, you know and trust in the process of improving. It’s such a fun mental shift.