So, I am signed up for the Color Me Rad run coming to my city this July.
My girls really wanted to participate in this fun run and I just could not deny them, or myself. Turns out, moments after we signed up, the race was sold out! It didn't even make it out of Early Bird registration before filling up! The three of us are so excited to have registered when we did.
Before last spring, however, I was not a runner. This is my story...
Last February, I was challenged to take on a half marathon with my cousin. She said to me, "I want to do something bigger than me." Well, I couldn't stand by and watch someone else take on a hard thing and not join in. So, I signed up.
I ran my first ever half marathon in May 2012 and documented the entire process in a Half Marathon Mini Album. It was a bit surreal to have done it. It was hard. But I did it!
After three months of training and running almost every day, the running bug had bit me. I couldn't just drop running cold turkey. It had become a part of me. So, I kept running just for fun. And because it seemed to feed a part of me that I cannot quite explain. It felt good to run. It was ME time. It was outdoor time. It was 'clear my head' time. And the urge to run never really left me.
A few weeks later, a colleague at work told me about the Starbucks Run for Women at the end of June. It was a 10k and seemed it would be so much simpler than the half marathon, so I ran it! I didn't have to do special training like it did with the half marathon. I wouldn't have to carry energy gels and my own bottles of water for this one. I could just go and run. So I did. I kept telling myself, you just ran a half marathon (13 miles), this is less than half (6 miles) of that!
Then I thought I was done. I had run more in the past 5 months than I had ever run! But I couldn't quit. So I kept running. Part way through July I caught wind of the Canmore Rocky Mountain Marathon. How could I not do that? We are out there almost every weekend. I love the mountains. I love running. It seemed inevitable. So I signed up for my second 10k of the season.
As the chilly winter weather came upon us I put my running shoes in the bottom of my closet. I felt good about what I had accomplished. I had nothing more to prove. I had done more than I ever dreamed I would. And I was satisfied.
Until now.
Since signing up for the Color Me Rad run this July, the urge to run has become very strong again. I have been waiting for our extended winter weather to cooperate so that I could get out and run, but no such luck. So, last night I laced up my mint running shoes once again and head out to my garage to face a very dusty treadmill.
And I ran for 3 miles without stopping...
