I wasn't always a runner.
I was born a fat, sloth-like child to parents who didn't see the value in athletics. Don't get me wrong, my parents were all about work, which often involved physical labor, but I don't think they ever saw the benefit in just running around for sport. My mom would send me outside to play (aka get out of my hair before I throttle you) and I would park myself under a tree and read a book. This made me well read and covered in welts from ant bites. It also made me a nerd (or a geek or a brain or something along those lines) and we all know how well nerds and etc fared socially in the "olden days". That is to say, not well at all.
Most of my experience with athletics as a kid were heavily influenced by 1) being fat and 2) existing as a female in a pre Title IX world. Not to give away my age, but I was a senior in high school when Title IX changes rocked the athletics world. A bit late for me, but hey...I am 1000 % percent behind it. The world always has to stop and begin somewhere.
Do I wish that my upbringing had been more athletically inspiring? Do I wish I had participated in more sports? Do I wish, do I wish, do I wish... we all wish for things that can not be had or things that cannot be changed. My Dad... a certified Arkansas hillbilly would have said sh&t in one hand and wish in the other...see which fills up the fastest.
So I am, exactly where I am. I got unfat when I was in college. Started walking and lifting weights after graduate school. I was always pretty active after that. But I did smoke (WHAT??) and I professed to hating running and swimming (please, I could tell you "mean girl" stories about swimming in high school that would make you want to cry...these girls were nasty little bitches).
And I got older and life changed and things happened and then a lot of things happened and one day something made me decide to go to Canada on a vacation. Where I biked. And I liked it and suddenly I was biking, biking, biking. And I quit smoking. And it stuck. And stuck and stuck and stuck. I think I quit in 2005? If so, it has been 10 years!! Whoooooo hoooooo for me!
Don't even ask where this thought came from but suddenly I decided that as of January 2007 I was going to train for a triathlon! Yes. In June of 2007 I was going to do a triathlon. Apparently that meant I was going to have to swim and I was going to have to run. Neither of which I currently did. It was a sprint triathlon...how hard could that be??
So I ran the first time around a track at the gym... 1/10th of a mile. I wanted to vomit. I tried the treadmill, I wanted to vomit more, but I stuck it out and I worked up to 4 miles. Then I took it outside and worked up to 5 miles. Running went amazingly well. I still hated it though.
Swimming went not so well.
So here we are at the Lake Mills triathlon and I am nervous as can be in the novice wave and off we go. Or maybe not. I nearly drown and it took me over 20 minutes to "swim" 400 yards. I got lapped by two wave starts. The bike went "ok" but by the time I got to the run I was so cold that I couldn't feel my feet or hands and all I could feel was an ice pick stabbing into my head. I finished. Nearly dead last. I would come back the following year and finish nearly a hour faster.
And then it was a "maybe I'll do a half marathon"...which I did. And then it was a "I could probably do a full marathon, I have friends who have done that"... and I did. Fox Cities 2008...I collapsed into the arms of my friends at the end and said "I am NEVER doing this again". I am pretty sure I said it many times over. And then suddenly, biking wasn't all that much fun and while I like swimming, I was looking for that BIG challenge. And I decided that when I was that milestone year (50) I was going to run a sub 4 hour marathon and qualify for Boston. What??
So yadda, yadda, yadda yadda. I qualified, I registered, I ran. Just last fall I qualified for Boston again (and that would be a whole different story).
I've now run 12 marathons. I am not sure how many 1/2's or other races. Just ran the Lake Monona 20K last weekend. I LOVE that course and I sort of hate that race. Why did it have to get hot? I don't like hot.
I'll be running 2 more marathons this year on top of our Grizzly Double. Which will be fine. I have no time goals for anything this year (running related) so I am just cruising.
I should probably mention that I do have a running goal tho...2015 miles in 2015. We can talk about that at a later date and catch up on where I am at...I'll give you a hint...I am a bit behind where I need to be. So I'll be working on putting some serious miles in the tank.
Next up for profile will probably be Liz. The difference between her and I? I love running. She hates it, but does it anyway. I am working on luring her over to the darkside. We have cookies.
How on earth could you possibly resist us?
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