I'm three this month....

It's been three years since I put on my shoes to go for a run. Oh, if I had known then what I know now....

Let me paint you a picture of my first 'run': It was May, 2011 and I was wearing baggy knee length mesh shorts, a baggy cotton t-shirt and running shoes I had bought in 2008.

(The running shoes were from the summer when I had actually completed a 5k and 4 mile race. I planned on sticking with running but then it got hot. And treadmills were boring. And work took up a lot of time. And I was tired after work. Get the picture? They weren't used much.)

Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined what this one simple question would lead to:

Do you want to run a half marathon?

 Laurie asked me that. I told her no. Then I told her yes. The rest, as they shall say, is history.



2011: Silver Comet Half, Anything is Possible 5k, Thanksgiving Half, RnR Miami Half

2012: Resolution Run, Mercedes Half, Publix Half, RnR Nashville Marathon, Harris Jacobs Dream Run 5K



2012: Dover AFB Half, Monster Dash Half, Thanksgiving Half, Huntersville Half, Biggest Loser Run/Walk (no pic)

2013: Resolution Run, Charleston Marathon, Hot Chocolate 15k (not pictured), Critz Tybee Run Festival, Super Hero 5k

2013: Mercedes Half, Publix Half, TriLatta Tri, Peachtree Road Race 10K, Acworth Women's Sprint Tri



2013: Tugallo Olympic, Tri,RnR Philadelphia Half (not pictured), Marine Corp Marathon, Thanksgiving Half



2014: Resolution Run, Disney Dopey Challenge, Critz Tybee Island Run Festival



2014: Chattahoochee Challenge 10k, Publix Half 

 

I hope you noticed I posted very few action shots. The picture are mostly with friends I have connected with over the course of my journey. That is what running, and now triathlon, has done for me. It has introduced me to people I might never have connected with. I have traveled to parts of states I might never have gone to. Some of the people pictured, I didn't meet until the middle of the race.

 

My favorite race of them all was the Super Hero 5k. I We completed it in just under an hour or so. How can a 5k that took me almost an hour to complete be my favorite? My dad did it with me. It was his FIRST RACE EVER! Two weeks after turning 70, he walked a 5k with me. He didn't complain, he thanked the volunteers, and we spent an hour together, uninterrupted by life or cell phones.

 

Each one of these races has a story behind it. Dover AFB Half I ran in Band-Aids. I wiped out on a run 5 days before and still managed a PR. The Monster Half was my first race after not running for 6 weeks due to an injury. I think this race convince Katie she needed to accept the suck and embrace hills. Now she runs them all the time. Thanksgiving 2012 I broke 2 hours on a half for the first time and Tiffany and I were stuck in horrible traffic getting there which totally messed with having a peaceful start. She PR'd as well. The Charleston Marathon was where I first met Keith after tracking each other's training on Daily Mile. He paced me through the whole thing even when I started crying at mile 18. I discovered the Critz Tybee Run Festival when I was dating another runner and told him I had one weekend free before lacrosse started, we should do something. He picked 5 races that total a marathon. 

 

Ironically, one of the races I didn't picture I placed 2nd in age group, the Biggest Loser Run/Walk in Panama City Beach 2012. It's never been about placing for me, but the journey this path has put me on.

 

And on that note:

Happy Runniversary to me, happy runniversary to me, happy runniversary You are Going to Be an Ironman.....Happy Runniversary to me!