This quote in the title so accurately sums up how I feel about running. When I was younger, I HATED running. All those times I had to run the mile in P.E. I thought I was going to die. I have to admit, I liked the idea of running but I just thought it wasn’t something I could ever become good at or enjoy doing. But I gave it another shot when I got to college when I signed-up for a jogging class. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning from January until May I was supposed to jog 3 miles regardless of the weather. I have to admit, sometimes my roommate and I just jogged home when it was snowing. However, Feb. 29, 2000, I jogged all 3 miles without ever stopping! I was so proud of myself. But after that jogging class, I never jogged that far again.
It wasn’t until I was in my early 30’s that I decided to give running another shot. I had a lot of friends that were runners and who loved it. So one summer day I was talking with my neighbor, Angelina, and she mentioned that she was running 1 mile every morning. So I invited myself along. It was rough. But after a while it started getting easier and we started going further, until the weather turned too cold and we stopped for the season. When spring came I decided to see if I could still run a mile. To my complete surprise I still could. So I started running further. One day I decided to really push myself and see if I could go 3 miles, after all, I had done it once I could surely do it again. . . and I DID. I DID IT! I ran 3 miles. So of course, I had to brag about it on Facebook (like any normal person, right?) To my complete delight, my friend Stephanie, asked if she could join me. (I was pretty intimidated especially because she had been doing 3 miles on her treadmill all winter and I had just barely run 3 miles once, but I knew she would motivate me to continue) and so we started running 3 miles together. It was the beginning of a very wonderful and rewarding friendship that I would come to cherish more than I could have imagined.
Being spring, the weather was sometimes really harsh and being new to running it was really rough, but I am SO grateful Stephanie kept me going. Not only that, but she encouraged me to do more and to push harder. In June our neighborhood held a 5k so we agreed to run it. Not only did I finish it, but I came in close to the front and under 30 minutes. I was super excited!
Stephanie and I kept pushing ourselves and kept increasing our distance. Over a couple of months three miles turned into four and four turned into five miles. Then in October, Stephanie convinced me to run a 10k (6.2 miles). I have to admit, I was really nervous about running not only because it was the first official race I had ever run, but also because I had never run that far before and was a little uncertain I could make it that far. But the day of the race arrived and being nervous I started out too fast and started having a rough time. I really felt like giving up so many times. There were times while running, that I was the only one I could see and I was really tired, but I kept telling myself I could do it. Just one more step. Just one more step. Until finally I could see the finish line and hear the announcer calling my name and then I gave it everything I had and ran as fast as I could across the finish line. What a mix of emotions, complete excitement for finishing, proud of myself for not giving up, but extremely tired. I came home from the race and posted a picture of myself in my running t-shirt with my finishers medal stating, “I just ran my first and only 10k” And I was right. . .I have only run one “official” 10k. I didn’t know then what I was getting myself into.
Stephanie and I continued to run while the weather was nice until the winter forced me into hibernation. But come Spring, we were back out running again. Thankfully 5 miles seemed to be our happy ran and we continued to run our 5 miles twice a week. During my winter hibernation, my brother convinced me to sign-up and compete in a really awesome Triathlon. It’s called the Lunatic Triathlon because it is held at night under a lunar moon and the order of events are out of order: run, bike, swim. So in June, I participated in my first Triathlon. It was also such a mixture of extreme emotions as well. I did well on the 5k run and really enjoyed it, the bike was miserable. And I mean miserable—I took an emotional beating for sure. (Come to find out, I had the brakes set, so yes, biking with the brakes on is rough, especially up hill). The swim portion was something that I wasn’t sure of, but since it was held in a pool, I knew I could catch my breath at the sides and work my way through it. I was completely elated to cross the finish line, hug my supportive family members, and receive my finisher’s medal. I was grateful I had finished it, but so disappointed with my performance that I knew I would have to compete the next year to prove I could do it better.
Stephanie, being the amazing friend that she is, kept encouraging us to run more, push harder, and dig deeper. She convinced me to run a half marathon and so we put our training into overdrive. We started running 7 miles, 8 miles, and two weeks before the race we ran 12 miles. I couldn’t believe it. . . me–the non-runner had actually run 12 miles! The day of our 1/2 marathon finally arrived and I was nervous beyond nervous. We woke up in the ridiculously early hours of the morning to catch a bus to take us up the mountain to wait until the race started. It was still dark and very cold—being October in the mountains it was near freezing. The reason we had chosen to even run a half-marathon was because this one was 10 miles down Big Cottonwood Canyon and then 3 miles of basically straight running into the city center. The race starts and we started with our pacer and kept a nice pace. The scenery was breathtaking, the day was perfect, and Stephanie and I were having a great time chatting! I actually had such a fun time running this race! When I crossed the finished line with Stephanie I was Euphoric! I had done it, I had just finished running 13.1 miles!!! That race was my absolute favorite and one I was tempted to run again just because it was so much fun.
The weather turned cold, and Stephanie moved indoors to her treadmill and I just hibernated until spring. This year, Stephanie was able to join me for the Lunatic Triathlon and our training began again. It wasn’t until I “tried” riding with Stephanie and her sister, that I discovered my bike (that had gone untouched since the last triathlon) had the brakes very firmly applied. After, taking off the brakes, life was SO much easier. So we began swimming twice a week, and running and biking weekly. It was during this time that James and I decided to simplify our lives and decided to move. (Thus creating the need for this blog) Stephanie and our training sessions were vital to my sanity during this move and transitional time in my life; it’s what kept me grounded. However, there was a running trail close to my new apartment and I discovered just how much I enjoyed trail running. I came to need and depend on being able to “hit the trail” at least once a week.
The night of the Triathlon came and it was a beautiful night to run. Stephanie, as usual, was tough to keep up with but she took pity on me and we finished the run together and hopped on our bikes, we kept up a great pace and I was so very very grateful that she was next to me for the entire 12 mile ride. (I had been having too many flashbacks to the loneliness and uncertainty of riding new terrain at night in the middle of the country from the year before.) Then came the swimming portion and thanks to Stephanie and all of our practice, I did much better on my swimming. When I crossed the finished line this year it was a much sweeter victory!
Of course, with plenty of time in the running season left, and plenty of different races to run, Stephanie convinced me to join a relay team with her. We would be running different lengths of runs at different times of the day and night. We were running the Grand Teton Relay and there were 12 of us on the team, each taking turns running different sections of the run continuously for a total of 180 miles. So we continued training and upped our milage to 8 miles to prepare for the relay.
When race time came it was a girls road-trip adventure and I was excited for this new adventure. Stephanie and I drove up to Idaho for a pre-race meet and greet dinner. It was fun to meet everyone and get to know them a little before the race started. The race was nothing like I expected, we hardly had any sleep, didn’t have much to eat, and the weather was so hot the first day and then started to rain in the evening. My first “leg” of the run was pitch-dark, in the rain, on a trail in the middle of the woods. It had a little of everything, some flat, some uphill, and some downhill but overall I felt like it was a good run. My next leg was just before sunrise and up a steep hill with switch-backs. It was both physically demanding yet serene looking out over the beautiful towns or the majestic Grand Tetons as the sun came up. My last leg was 5 miles of straight and flat running in the scorching heat of the afternoon. Thankfully, another teammate, and now-friend, Keagan ran with me. He kept me going when I wanted to walk and our talking kept my mind off the seemingly endless miles stretching before us. Crossing that finish line with my 11 teammates in our costumes was fun. The entire 2-day experience was something I will never forget. I ran in all kinds of conditions and weather with basically no sleep and little food. It was a tough experience, but one that I treasure because of the friendships I made and the experience I gained.
Another year of running is nearly in the books as the weather is beginning to cool, but I am reflective on my running career and the many great experiences and lessons I have learned through my running. The biggest of which would be that I have met and conquered challenges that were intimidating to me but I was able to prove that I am more capable than I thought. It has given me so much confidence and I have been able to enjoy the simpler things of life as I run outdoors. So even though I haven’t lost weight (rather the opposite), or become addicted to running, I have come to truly enjoy running!
twototes 