Personal Best

Ok so I am bouncing off the walls because today I did my personal best! Now before I share what exactly it was I want to share a bit about how it happened and how my training has been going.

So I have made no bones about saying I am not a runner, but I am trying and I am feeling good in my attempts, something I never thought I would say. I feel like I am getting healthier, my mood is better (which is good for everyone, because this fat girl can be a real bitch on a bad day), and all around I am feeling better. I am also starting to go a bit faster and longer than I have before.

So far in my training I have been told (by my OB/GYN who is an extremely cool woman and a marathoner, as well as one of my oldest son's old soccer coach, also a marathoner) to build my stamina I should build my time slowly rotating a few minutes of running with a few of walking until my running time builds and my walking time stays the same, or effectively decreases. Thus far I have been able to build my running time steadily as well as increased my speed. Now people, lets not get crazy here it is not like I am suddenly running miles, hell I am not even running A mile completely, but before today I was run/walking 2+ miles in 45 mins, which for me is AMAZING!

So far I had been run/walking a steady pace of running 2 min, walking 1 min, for 30 to 45 minutes about 5 times a week. This has been a great increase for me since I started with 30/30 and built from there. Well today I decided to see what I could do, and I was pleasantly surprised by myself. Drum roll please.... 5 minutes running 2-3 walking for 30 minutes! Go me! So today I really did feel like a runner girl.

But then when I got done, my fabulous workout buddy and I were cleaning off our treadmills and I saw this woman running, well sort of. She was a big girl too, although truth be told I think I am bigger. As she ran, she was going so slow she looked like this weird version of walking and running that looked so strange and non runner-like that I was struck with the thought, Is that what I look like when I run? So I asked my workout buddy who first said, "Well sort of", and then said, "Actually no. You run faster and look more like you are running." Well God bless her, because either she is right or she is brilliant enough to know what I needed to hear to keep going and not ruin the triumph of my 5 minute day.

So even though I am feeling a bit like a runner girl today, I am still a fat girl running. But, hey that's cool with me because I ran for 5 minutes today!