kristenrice
NOT just an ambulance driver
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2006
Hi, Everyone!
I need to start a journal because it is time for me to get motivated. I need a public forum to post my progress so I feel accountable to someone...even strangers on the internet.
First, a quick backstory...
I am a 38-year-old paramedic from West Michigan, married, with 2 girls, ages 7 and 9. I have always been very active in sports (mostly softball) but I had very bad knees all through high-school. My doctor's always told me that my knees were so bad that I should never even consider distance running of more than one mile. (Something about the underside of my kneecap being very rough instead of smooth which can cause breakdown of the bones) Since I was always told, "You can't run"...I believed it.
This past August, I found the RunDisney site and I was so inspired by how much fun the events looked. Then I realized that even 5K is 3 miles...more than I was ever "allowed" to run. Well, the heck with it...I wanted to try. I set my goal and told DH that by next year, I was going to be able to run a Disney 5K.
So I set out on a run.... I made it 1/4 mile and had to walk. I went home and found the C25K program and thought I'd give it a try. I figured, "Hey, I can walk for a minute and then run for 30 seconds...it's only 30 seconds!". As the program progressed, I continued along the same line of thought..."If I can run for 30 seconds, I can run for 60 seconds." Then, I got to the day when I had to run for 3 MINUTES! I knew it would be hard, but I did it. Every day, I'd try to run a little longer with less walking. I couldn't believe it when I got to the day that I had to run 22 minutes...but I did it!
Fast forward to today...so far, I have RUN in (2) 5K races already and my furthest distance without walking has been 6.25 miles. I just got back from a week's vacation at HHI (where DH managed to get 2 7-mile runs in...I made it to the beach house...got stuck in a thunderstorm and had to get a ride back) so I need to get back on track. My next "vacation" will be to WDW in November where DH and I are going to try the 1/2 Marathon. DH has a goal of running the entire event. My goal is simply to complete it. The weather here in Michigan has not been cooperating so it has been difficult to get out and run. I LOATHE the treadmill since I tend to vary my pace based on what is on my playlist and I have a lot of trouble doing that on the treadmill. We belong to a gym but the track there is very short. It is 13.2 laps to a mile so 80 times around that track is only 6 miles. I did it once and it is REALLY boring.
This brings me to today. I am going to officially start my journaling today since it is the first run I have done since vacation.
I went 2.25 miles in 30:11 (13:25 pace)...this is HORRIBLE for me...but I have an explanation. First, it is 33 degrees out and raining with sustained winds at 15-20mph. YUCK! Second, this was the first time I brought my dog out for a run with me. She is a 10-month-old, 90-pound "malamutt" (bullmastiff/malamute mix) and she managed to get her leash unhooked about 1.5 miles into the run. I had to stop for almost 2 minutes to get her to come back to me and get the collar re-attached. That put me behind my pace and it was awfully hard to get running again, especially since the rain had picked up and I was running into the wind.
Although I was not too pleased with my performance, I look at it this way...the 2.25 miles that I went today is more than I have done in the past 2 weeks. I got out of the house and ran. It wasn't fast, long or pretty, but I did it. The weather is only supposed to get worse for the rest of the week but I do have the next 3 days off of work so we shall see what happens.
I need to start a journal because it is time for me to get motivated. I need a public forum to post my progress so I feel accountable to someone...even strangers on the internet.
First, a quick backstory...
I am a 38-year-old paramedic from West Michigan, married, with 2 girls, ages 7 and 9. I have always been very active in sports (mostly softball) but I had very bad knees all through high-school. My doctor's always told me that my knees were so bad that I should never even consider distance running of more than one mile. (Something about the underside of my kneecap being very rough instead of smooth which can cause breakdown of the bones) Since I was always told, "You can't run"...I believed it.
This past August, I found the RunDisney site and I was so inspired by how much fun the events looked. Then I realized that even 5K is 3 miles...more than I was ever "allowed" to run. Well, the heck with it...I wanted to try. I set my goal and told DH that by next year, I was going to be able to run a Disney 5K.
So I set out on a run.... I made it 1/4 mile and had to walk. I went home and found the C25K program and thought I'd give it a try. I figured, "Hey, I can walk for a minute and then run for 30 seconds...it's only 30 seconds!". As the program progressed, I continued along the same line of thought..."If I can run for 30 seconds, I can run for 60 seconds." Then, I got to the day when I had to run for 3 MINUTES! I knew it would be hard, but I did it. Every day, I'd try to run a little longer with less walking. I couldn't believe it when I got to the day that I had to run 22 minutes...but I did it!
Fast forward to today...so far, I have RUN in (2) 5K races already and my furthest distance without walking has been 6.25 miles. I just got back from a week's vacation at HHI (where DH managed to get 2 7-mile runs in...I made it to the beach house...got stuck in a thunderstorm and had to get a ride back) so I need to get back on track. My next "vacation" will be to WDW in November where DH and I are going to try the 1/2 Marathon. DH has a goal of running the entire event. My goal is simply to complete it. The weather here in Michigan has not been cooperating so it has been difficult to get out and run. I LOATHE the treadmill since I tend to vary my pace based on what is on my playlist and I have a lot of trouble doing that on the treadmill. We belong to a gym but the track there is very short. It is 13.2 laps to a mile so 80 times around that track is only 6 miles. I did it once and it is REALLY boring.
This brings me to today. I am going to officially start my journaling today since it is the first run I have done since vacation.
I went 2.25 miles in 30:11 (13:25 pace)...this is HORRIBLE for me...but I have an explanation. First, it is 33 degrees out and raining with sustained winds at 15-20mph. YUCK! Second, this was the first time I brought my dog out for a run with me. She is a 10-month-old, 90-pound "malamutt" (bullmastiff/malamute mix) and she managed to get her leash unhooked about 1.5 miles into the run. I had to stop for almost 2 minutes to get her to come back to me and get the collar re-attached. That put me behind my pace and it was awfully hard to get running again, especially since the rain had picked up and I was running into the wind.
Although I was not too pleased with my performance, I look at it this way...the 2.25 miles that I went today is more than I have done in the past 2 weeks. I got out of the house and ran. It wasn't fast, long or pretty, but I did it. The weather is only supposed to get worse for the rest of the week but I do have the next 3 days off of work so we shall see what happens.