Running Addiction

I never considered myself to be a runner, when I was younger I would struggle to get through the mile run at school, I was the big, slow girl in class.  This trend continued throughout much of my life.  There were periods of time when I would do small amounts of running, maybe a mile or so, but never consistently and never truly with a passion.  I never in my life thought I would be able to run a 5k, it just didn't seem to be in me.

Enter Ty into my life.  My friend Ty challenged me to run in a 5k with him here in Kabul, I had never run that far in one instance in my life.  But, one of my goals while I was here was to get into better shape, and I thought that running would definately help,  Besides, how many people can say that they ran their first 5k in Afghanistan?  So I started running, it was pretty slow going, maybe a mile or two a day, but I was running.  I managed to run 5k before the actual race, so I knew that I could do it, however when race day arrived, I was still recovering from a few "graceful moments" and in the heat of the day I struggled more then I thought that I would.  But, the important part is that I finished the race.  My time was nothing spectacular, but I enjoyed the experience.

After the 5k I continued to run, Ty mentioned running in a 10k on the 4th of July and with that as my goal I kicked up my training a notch.  In the weeks that followed I found days where I just felt like running and I ran 5 miles, and I was so suprised at my ability to complete it.  Unfortunately, it did not work out in my schedule to run in the 10k, but the night before I ran my 10k...actually I ran 11k, but I did it!  Again I was suprised at my ability to do this, I have never in my life been a runner.

A few weeks later I was running, and when I started I thought I might do a couple miles, but as I started getting into it I think to myself, no, I want to run farther, I'll do a 10k tonight, only I didnt' feel like stopping after the 10k, I kept going and ran ten miles that night.  I was tired, but I felt as though I could have kept going.  I ran for two straight hours without stopping. Who was I turning into? Because I was not someone who would ever, or had ever run ten miles straight before!

By this time running had become many things for me.  It was a stress relief, exercise, a mental relief, and many other things. After awhile I started to enjoy the feeling I got when I ran, the mindless obliviation that I seemed to settle into as I ran circles around base.  If I didn't get to run for a few days I started to crave it.  I can't help it, running has became an addiction!

It was after running the 10 miles that I realized that I am capable of doing so much more then I had ever given myself credit for.  I decided that I wanted to train for something (I need goals), I thought about a half marathon, but I believed that I could do that now and that it wouldn't really be a challenge for me to achieve it.  So instead I decided it would have to be a full marathon.  I thought long and hard about which race to enter and what the time frame should be.  I decided to enter the Denver Marathon on October 17, a few weeks after I returned to the US.  This would give me 13 weeks to train and as an added bonus, and I was already training at altitude.  Plus, I needed to go to Denver to pick up my cat : )

I am nervous about my new goal, but excited as well.  I know that I will be able to achieve it, I look forward to the challenges that lie ahead of me, and to seeing myself acomplishing goals that I previously never thought possible.  The upcoming months will be yet another adventure and full of many 1st's!