Saturday, June 19, 2010

Who Knew?!?!

Okay, think you get the picture that I've never been a runner, nor have I EVER particularly enjoyed it. I've talked about running for a while and made mention of it in two blogs:
  1. Here: this is when I went to my first Houston Marathon as a spectator and actually wanted to try it!
  2. Here: this is when I gave up on my training.
Since then, I got into an argument with a friend over running v. not running. It was RIDICULOUS! I've gone to cheer more friends at the Chevron Houston Marathon. I actually WALKED 5k in April in less time than I expected. And I've been training...like seriously training to RUN a 5k in August.

Ironically enough, I've gotten past the stage of dreading it. Okay, honestly the first 5 minutes when I get out there really suck but I LOVE IT and I wish I had started this sooner!

I'm so thankful for my friend Regina who jogged the last I don't know how many yards of the 5k in April. I told her then that I LOVED the atmosphere of a 5k, I loved how the self competition kicked in full gear when I was there, and I loved the challenge. I told her that if I could do a 5k I could do a half marathon. While I was mostly joking, she took me seriously and she said - Okay, let's train to actually run a 5k and we will go from there.

So here's the progress. In April I did the 5k in 47 minutes! Not too shabby for someone who didn't train. Okay - so I train on a track that's 2.88 miles and on June 1 I went around in 43 minutes and it was more walking than running. On June 18th, I did the loop in 40 minutes 6 seconds. 24 minutes of jogging and 16 minutes walking.

I write this not to boast and say LOOK AT ME! I write this because I didn't know I had it in me. And the things that have really helped are the following:
  1. Accountability (insert Regina and this blog post)
  2. SCRIPTURE starts flowing in my head. I wish I could quote it right now, but I've gone blank...I'm not running right now. I'll post in a future blog the scripture I use.
  3. Prayer! OMG! Regina knows when I start getting tired or when I'm about to and she tells me - Okay, Mimi this is when you should start praying if you haven't already started!
  4. Subscribing to Runner's World! TIPS GALORE!
I'm actually going to RUN a 5k August 7!

This is a bit of a selfish prayer request and a bit more personal than I like to get on a blog, but I'm going on a mission trip to Guatemala for three weeks. When I travel, I tend to gain weight which tends to make me blue. So, please pray that I can keep this up while I'm away. I really don't want to lose this progress. It really makes me happy and I actually DO enjoy this!!

3 comments:

Mia Lauren. said...

i'll be praying for you, and for the mission trip!
i love running - its such a great stress reliever buti know how it is to have made so much improvement and then be set back with things like that. I stopped running completely for a month and a half and now i can only run 2 miles :|.

i'm sure you'll be great, and you'll be able to jump back into it when you get back :)

Anonymous said...

You can totally keep it up since you only need shoes to do it! Yeah. Imagine running along the beach every morning at sunrise. AWESOME! Love you and the inspiration.

The Williams said...

You can do it!!! Love you :)