When I was in grade school, I was one of the slowest runners
in my class. I hated running and used to
“cheat” on counting laps on days we had to run a mile. Even having to run laps in basketball
practice, I used to miscount a few times (a lot). By the time I was in high school, I hated
running just as much. During my full
year of gym classes Sophomore year, I would do just about anything to get out
of running on mile Thursday. I was in
dance and always pretty active in sports, as long as it didn’t have running
involved.
It wasn’t until my Senior year in college when everything
changed. A coaching change for dance
meant that I did not make the team. At
the time, I felt like I lost my identity.
After 5 years of dance, it suddenly was no more. I don’t remember why I started running but by
the end of that year I was running about one to two miles in the morning. Even when I graduated, came home, and started
my Master’s program, I still ran about two miles every day for about a
year. I stopped running while I was on
vacation in Paris and had a terrible pain in my leg, which was later determined
to be a stress fracture in my left tibia.
I was convinced that if I ran, I would get hurt, so I stopped.
For several years I still kept up with cardio workouts on elliptical
machines and the Gazelle (anyone remember that wonderful piece of
equipment?). Then when I was in my
second year of law school, I started speed walking on a treadmill to release
stress and sometimes to read outlines and note cards. After law school, the speed walking turned
more into a speed walk/run for about another year. Until, once again, I had a stress fracture in
my ankle and had to stop. I didn’t have
a lot of confidence in my legs that I would be able to start again.
Two years later, in 2009, I registered for my first running
even, the local July 4th 5k in my city. One of my friends from college and her
husband also signed up and I even convinced my dad to register, so at least I
wasn’t going to be doing this by myself.
I had no intention to run this 5k and instead walked the 3.1 miles. However, I remember seeing the runners at the
start line in the bright colored shirts and tight fitting shorts and tanks, and
thinking that runners are crazy. I
thought that these people are clearly not in their right mind and I hope that I
never become one of those crazy runners.
The following year was one of the most chaotic years of my
life. I signed up for the same 5k that I
ran the year before, with the same intent to walk the entire race. I trained for walking the race, and had even
walked parts of the route prior to the race.
When the gun went off to start the race, I was walking, and saw all the
people that were running past me. Once I
got up the giant hill about half a mile into the race, something happened and I
don’t know what made me do it. I started
running and ran the rest of the race. It
was so liberating and all the stress that had been building up was gone for
that short period of time. It was also
the first time I finished in under 30 minutes.
Later that summer and into the fall, I signed up for three
more 5ks and wanted to keep getting faster and getting a better time. Yet, the only ‘training’ I was doing for
these races was on the elliptical machine, and I would just show up and run on
race day. After every 5k, my times were
getting better and better.
In August of 2010, I made a decision that I was going to run
a half marathon, but not just any half marathon, the Walt Disney World half
marathon in 2012. I didn’t know it then,
but it was a decision that changed everything.
By the time registration rolled around in March of 2011, ironically
while I was at Disney World for the Atlanta Braves Spring Training, I changed
my mind about the half marathon. If I
was going to do this, I was going all out, so I signed up for the full
marathon. It was during this vacation in
March of 2011, outside of the back doors of Disney’s Swan Hotel, that I first
started training for something and that I felt like a runner.
In April of 2011, I ran my longest distance I had ever run,
a 10k race in the unpredictable Wisconsin weather of a sleet/rain/snow
combo. In the beginning June, I ran
another 10k, and had a setback that had previously deterred my desire to run – a
stress fracture in my left foot. The
biggest mistake I made was continuing to run for an additional two weeks, even
through the pain. I stopped when I was
on a running trail and started screaming as my foot collapsed beneath me. I started working with a chiropractor, and
after several pity parties with my BFF and vegan ice cream, I knew I had to
overcome this.
By the end of August, I was given clearance to run again –
nice and easy. The same day that I was
given that clearance, I did a nice and easy 6.2 mile run. I had been walking and doing other training
exercises the weeks before, but that is not what my chiropractor meant. At this point, I had about four weeks to
train for my first half marathon – with my longest run only being 6.2
miles. I only had three ‘long’ runs
before the half – 8, 10 and 12 miles; a
very condensed training program. I still
managed to run that half marathon in just under two hours, which was my goal
was going into that race.
After the half marathon, I took a week off from
running. My foot hurt, but I think it
was more mental and fear of another stress fracture than anything else. After the week long running vacation, I
started training for the Disney Marathon, and never stopped. Throughout training, I had knee pain, a
strained nerve in my back, and hip/knee pain, but was determined to do this marathon
– injury or no injury.
Making it to the start line of the marathon was almost a
victory in and of itself. In the days
leading up to the marathon, I ran around parts of the resort and did the Disney
5k, and my leg and knee hurt. I had no
idea what was wrong, but I was going to run through it. Once the gun went off for Corral B, and the
marathon started, I made it to mile 1.85 before my leg started to hurt, but
there was no way I was quitting. I also
knew that if I stopped to walk, I wouldn’t be able to finish. I sucked it up and made it to somewhere
between mile 23 and 24 when I took a bathroom break just before leaving
Hollywood Studios. When I started
running again, just around the corner leaving the Studios, I screamed in pain
and thought I blew out my knee. I walked
around the corner, saw the crowds, and ran through the pain to the finish.
My goal for the Disney Marathon was to finish in under 4:20,
which I did, just barely at 4:19:21. Yet,
I was walking funny for about two days.
Once I returned home and got back to my chiropractor, I first learned
about IT band syndrome and that I had it.
It was a little depressing since I couldn’t run for a few weeks, but
once I started again, I knew I wanted to run more marathons and half
marathons. Somewhere along those 26.2
miles at Disney World, I not only found something that I loved to do, I found
myself. I found somewhere where I fit
in, where I belonged.
A year later – 2013 Disney World Marathon – I had come full
circle. It went from a decision to a way
of life. I love the medals, crossing the
finish line, the feeling of accomplishment, challenging myself to be better, the
competition…everything. I know there
will be setbacks and there will be and are times I want to quit or question why
I am doing this, but it’s more than just running. It’s about strength, determination, and doing
something that I was once told I was not good at or motivated enough to
do. But more importantly, it’s about
turning around that little voice inside my head that used to say ‘why me?’ Now
that voice says, ‘why not me?’
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