Running is absolutely not natural to me. I never ran track in high school, or saw the road as an opportunity for some footwork. Up until recently, I even believed that I enjoyed running on a treadmill more than I did outside. (Gasp!)
Well it became clear to me why - simply because when you run outside you actually have to carry the weight of your own body (I know, so dramatic).
Late last year, some friends and I decided to sign up for the
Rock 'n' Roll Marathon taking place in Pasadena on February 17th. I knew it would be a great opportunity to get exercise and more importantly set a goal for myself that I never thought I'd attempt to achieve. (Let's be real here, I was the girl at the end of the track finishing a 15 minute mile in junior high.)
I started running outside and after a couple runs of wondering what the hell I was thinking, I actually started to see the beauty of running and the world slowly becoming my own track. There's something about feeling the wind against you as you run, and seeing the world from the street's view.
While running, I realized that I was catching so many personal moments of others; like an elderly woman running towards a bus leaving a stop, clips of conversations between diners sitting outside, drivers rocking it out in their cars, and of course other runners and bikers whizzing by (which, I'm contemplating to start giving high fives to - is that okay, or creepy?).
Overall the experience is ironically peaceful. Almost like watching my very own movie with moments I'm only getting glimpses of and set to the soundtrack of whatever is playing through my pandora. All these experiences and more make me so happy that I signed up for this marathon.
We are about 5 weeks away from the marathon and I am working to hit 10 miles over the next week. I'm excited and scared at the same time - I'm not running as frequently as I should, but all I can do now, is work hard over the next couple weeks to reach 13 miles by February 17th!
I'm following this
plan:
I'd love to hear any tips or training plans that anyone has used for their first marathon! :)
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