Archive for November 29th, 2007

So it’s been about 9 months since starting my run/walk program and the general consensus is that my improvements have been on the rapid side, which is extremely heartening.

I’m a glutton for running books, forums, articles, anything I can lay my hands on, so that helped tremendously when I began training for my first Half Marathon last September – the PDR (Philly Distance Run). I fashioned a program using the Runner’s World SmartCoach as a base, but tweaked it all over the place. I added mileage, a weekly tempo run, speedwork every other week, lengthened the long run, all of which whittled my pace down at a steady rate.

My last race of the season was a Turkey Trot, where I placed 2nd in my Age Group (40-49) with a 23:30. It was a PR for me, but what was sobering was that the first 3 Overall women to cross the finish were also in my AG, the fastest getting a time of 18:13 (unbelievable…she’s 46, like me!), the other two, sub-21s. So I started a thread in the Boomer forum of Coolrunning.com to see what type of numbers I can expect to be looking at if I keep working hard. Sub-21 was agreed by most, with some saying sub-20. Well. That certainly makes things interesting.

One of the responders suggested I get a coach, others agreed, so here I am, in the midst of setting a time up for next week with an actual running coach! Freaks me out a little, because although I’ve been driven from the start, this is suddenly becoming more serious in that I’m increasing the pressure on myself. And here I was going to be lazy and enjoy the winter, running without a goal in mind.

Lol, me hiring a coach. Hilarious coming from the fat drama-class girl who skipped PE and smoked cigarettes in the school bathroom.

I’ve always avoided physical exertion at all costs. A fat kid who became an overweight adult, I’d joined gyms a couple times, made some weak attempts at fitness, but only because I wanted to lose weight and look better.

Somewhere in my 30′s I finally figured out the eating thing and enjoyed a normal weight from that point on, but remained a sloth of a gal – “skinny fat” as they say. Exercise meant swiveling in my computer chair.

Cut to age 45, I was flabby, felt ugly, hated my body, then finally some bad shit went down in my life and that was it for me. I was a middle-aged women who, if I didn’t make some positive changes for myself, would be one big ball of depression from here on in.

So in December 2006, I started buying exercise DVDs. Lots of DVDs. I became the Callanetics-Bootcamp-CardioSalsa-Pilates-Yoga Queen. And it was working; I had something to concentrate on, my body was toning up and my general outlook was positive.

Then, for some reason unknown to me, in February 2007 I ordered some running shoes online.

When I tried them on, I couldn’t believe the way they felt, seriously the most comfortable shoes I’d ever worn. I became curious, glancing outside at the winter days, imagining myself jogging around in my fancy running shoes. I googled running sites and forums, found the C25K plan and Robert Ullrey’s accompanying podcasts, and that, my friends, was the beginning of my second life – my Running Life.