An Anniversary!

Of what?  I know that some of you are thinking this :)

One year ago this weekend, Scott & I took a little trip with some friends to Southern Illinois.  We enjoyed traveling the wine trails...really enjoyed the wine...and all in all had a really fun time together!  It was a blast (except for maybe some of the effects of all of that wine that I experienced the next day, but we won't get into that here! ;) 

On this trip, one of my friends started talking about how she had started the "Couch to 5K" online training program for running and was really enjoying it.  I had previously tried this same program a couple of times already...only to have given up about halfway through it.

The discussion, my previous failures, plus the prospect of having someone to track our progress together...all equaled MAJOR MOTIVATION for me to want to give it another try.  I thought about it the rest of the weekend and decided that I was going to do it and this time...there would be NO giving up!

Not too long after getting home that Sunday afternoon, I printed off the schedule once again and I finished Day 1 of it.

So, this weekend marks the 1 year anniversary of me being a runner! :)

One year ago, I could barely imagine being able to run 1 mile at a time, let alone 3!  People who even attemped marathons and 1/2 marathons were crazy!  Well, look who's crazy now...ME!  As I am entering my last few weeks of training for my 2nd half marathon this year...I ran 9 miles yesterday...CRAZY! :)

Never in my life would I ever have imagined that this would be me, but boy does it feel good!

From the past year, here are some of the moments that stand out the most in my head...

1)  The first time I ran 20 minutes without stopping (on the Couch to 5K schedule) and called my friend to celebrate!  Then a few days later when she called and we celebrated her accomplishing the same thing!

2)  Making the decision to attempt a 1/2 marathon and being (almost) completely convinced that I might actually die trying to do one!

3)  The first time I ran/walked 10 and then 12 miles with my sister...these were some of the hardest runs I have ever done, but we both made it through!  (Wind was a BIG factor on both of these.)

4)  Crossing the finish line of my first ever race (the 1/2 marathon) and the sheer joy I felt doing so!

5)  Having my first ever experience with running in high heat/humidity at that very same race...not pleasant and neither were the effects of dehydration after the race.

6)  One of my goals when I first started running was to possibly compete in a sprint triathalon and I am proud to say that I can check this off my list too, but that doesn't mean that I won't do it again :)

What a difference a year can make!