At the end of October 2010 I decided to try and take up running...little did I know it would take over my life. I found myself at the ripe age of 26, very over weight, and wanting to get myself back in shape. I never enjoyed running, but I always looked at running as a true gauge of how fit a person was. I wanted to become a runner and decided now was as good a time as ever. This is the re-cap of my adventures in my first year of running.
It all started when Noelle, a fellow teacher, mentioned that she was running the Jingle Bell 5k at the beginning of December and I thought, "Hmm...I wonder if I could ever run a 5k?" At the time I couldn't run for more than a minute or two without becoming terribly out of breath. I decided why not and registered for the race without any training. I figured I had to register in order to keep myself accountable. I revisited the Couch to 5k program that I had started and quit multiple times, but this time I knew I had to stick with it or that 5k was going to be miserable! Luckily, I was able to get some other friends to register as well and we had a great day of running followed by some chili and snowflakes!
I learned a lot from this race:
**DON'T EVER line up at the starting line for a race, you will get a lot of elbows to the face
**Even though it's below freezing, you really don't need 3 layers of clothes to stay warm during a race
**Enjoy the experience because it ends all too fast!
Thanks to everyone who ran that race with me and all of the supporters! I can't wait to run it again with you all this year. Hopefully we can get some others to join us!
After taking some time off of running in the winter due to some soccer injuries I was ready to start training again. I talked to my brother and convinced him to run a 5k with me! We started training in February and ran our 5k early May! This race was out in Indianapolis and I was excited to run with my brother and experience running in a new city. I was able to shave about 3 minutes off of my previous 5k and Fred did an awesome job on his first! He has continued running with some friends in Indy and has since completed a second 5k and plans to run a half with me in the Spring! :)
After that 5k I instantly had the itch to find another race. After reading many running blogs and magazines I learned about the Warrior Dash. I decided that would be the best thing ever and quickly found out when it was going to be in Ohio and signed up! This race wasn't until June so I had a lot of time to train, but I was super pumped. It was the weekend that school got out and I figured it would be a great way to celebrate the summer! In the meantime I also wanted to try a race that was a little bit longer so I registered for a 10k as well.
Fast forward to June - Warrior Dash in early June was one of my favorite memories of the summer. A fellow teacher from school ran with me and my Mom came to cheer us on! She took some great pictures and we were COVERED in mud! :) I cannot wait for Warrior Dash 2012. I'm going to have to recruit some more people to join us this time. Then on June 12th it was time for the Columbus 10k. I convinced some friends to run the race with me and Janene (a coworker from camp) was running it also. On the morning of the race I woke up with a fever and was not feeling very well. I managed to eat some breakfast and keep it down and figured I had to go to the race...I got these other people to sign up, I can't bail on them now. I just decided that if I felt bad during the race I'd stop and walk. Well Janene and I had never ran together and little did we know we were pretty much at the same pace. We were able to run and chat pretty much the whole time (at about Mile 4 we pooped out and focused on just finishing). I was feeling good most of the race and was able to run the entire time. At the finish line though it all caught up to me and I almost passed out. That was quite embarrassing and scary, but I learned from it. I won't run with a fever anymore and will drink more Gatorade on the course no matter how gross it tastes. :)
After this race I was feeling slightly defeated, but after a few days I was feeling better and looking to see what the next step was. I was hoping to just keep up with running for an hour and staying in shape. After a very long day of van training at camp, and many awesome discussions with fellow camp counselors, I started to debate running a half marathon. I figured it would be a good way to cap off my first full year of training. Janene was a huge inspiration in that decision. She started running at about the same time as me, but had already finished a half marathon and decided to train for a full. If she could do all of that then I knew I could run a half in the fall! Janene and I had many conversations where we swapped training stories and strategies throughout the summer and talked about if playing soccer at camp could count as speed work or cross training. :) As camp ended Janene and I decided we needed to keep in touch and after Janene's full marathon was over we did some long training runs together to prep for the Columbus Half Marathon.
Fast forward to October - It's now time for the Half! I knew Janene and her new husband Ian were running, and I talked my friend Nate into running the race also. I felt ready for the race, but also very nervous. Our longest training run was only 10 miles and I had no idea if I'd have enough left to finish the last 3.1. I was very excited for the race to start as I stood there shivering at my starting corral at 6:30am. I think I asked Nate like 12,000 times if he was excited or nervous and he kept telling me no. :( HAHA I don't think he was happy to be up that early. After we spent a while looking for Janene and Ian I was about to give up on finding her and was just hoping to find her somewhere on the course. With only a few minutes before the gun goes off I hear someone in the crowd of 17,000 people yell "CARRIE!!!" I couldn't believe it but there was Janene and Ian and her friend Gracie. Janene and Ian had just gotten married the Friday before the race (crazy right...) and they were appropriately dressed for the occasion. Ian sported a tuxedo t-shirt and Janene had a pink tu-tu and veil. They were super cute costumes which warranted many congratulations and comments from the crowd. About halfway through the race Janene and I decided it was important to dress up for EVERY race from here on out! As the race progressed we lost both of the boys to the Port-o-Potties, but we had to keep on keepin' on. Nate caught up to and passed us around the 10k point, but we were still going strong. We were pretty amazed as how good we were feeling and we decided we were going to keep pace until around Mile 11 and then step things up. And that's exactly what we did! YAY NEGATIVE SPLITS! At mile 11 we definitely sped up and actually ran the 13th mile in under 10 minutes! :) We set a goal to just finish the race, but also to finish in less than 2 hours and 30 minutes. We officially crossed the finish line at 2:28:47! WE DID IT!!!! :) That was one of the best days ever! A huge thanks to Janene, Ian, and Nate for running with me as well as my Dad, Mom, and Chris for coming out to cheer us on! After the race Nate and I capped off the exciting morning with Chipotle thanks to our Buy One Get One Coupons from the race! :)
Now that my year of running is complete I can't wait for what year two of running will hold! I couldn't have survived this year without all of the wonderful people in my life that have supported me. Who wants to run a race with me this year?
It all started when Noelle, a fellow teacher, mentioned that she was running the Jingle Bell 5k at the beginning of December and I thought, "Hmm...I wonder if I could ever run a 5k?" At the time I couldn't run for more than a minute or two without becoming terribly out of breath. I decided why not and registered for the race without any training. I figured I had to register in order to keep myself accountable. I revisited the Couch to 5k program that I had started and quit multiple times, but this time I knew I had to stick with it or that 5k was going to be miserable! Luckily, I was able to get some other friends to register as well and we had a great day of running followed by some chili and snowflakes!
I learned a lot from this race:
**DON'T EVER line up at the starting line for a race, you will get a lot of elbows to the face
**Even though it's below freezing, you really don't need 3 layers of clothes to stay warm during a race
**Enjoy the experience because it ends all too fast!
Thanks to everyone who ran that race with me and all of the supporters! I can't wait to run it again with you all this year. Hopefully we can get some others to join us!
After taking some time off of running in the winter due to some soccer injuries I was ready to start training again. I talked to my brother and convinced him to run a 5k with me! We started training in February and ran our 5k early May! This race was out in Indianapolis and I was excited to run with my brother and experience running in a new city. I was able to shave about 3 minutes off of my previous 5k and Fred did an awesome job on his first! He has continued running with some friends in Indy and has since completed a second 5k and plans to run a half with me in the Spring! :)
After that 5k I instantly had the itch to find another race. After reading many running blogs and magazines I learned about the Warrior Dash. I decided that would be the best thing ever and quickly found out when it was going to be in Ohio and signed up! This race wasn't until June so I had a lot of time to train, but I was super pumped. It was the weekend that school got out and I figured it would be a great way to celebrate the summer! In the meantime I also wanted to try a race that was a little bit longer so I registered for a 10k as well.
Fast forward to June - Warrior Dash in early June was one of my favorite memories of the summer. A fellow teacher from school ran with me and my Mom came to cheer us on! She took some great pictures and we were COVERED in mud! :) I cannot wait for Warrior Dash 2012. I'm going to have to recruit some more people to join us this time. Then on June 12th it was time for the Columbus 10k. I convinced some friends to run the race with me and Janene (a coworker from camp) was running it also. On the morning of the race I woke up with a fever and was not feeling very well. I managed to eat some breakfast and keep it down and figured I had to go to the race...I got these other people to sign up, I can't bail on them now. I just decided that if I felt bad during the race I'd stop and walk. Well Janene and I had never ran together and little did we know we were pretty much at the same pace. We were able to run and chat pretty much the whole time (at about Mile 4 we pooped out and focused on just finishing). I was feeling good most of the race and was able to run the entire time. At the finish line though it all caught up to me and I almost passed out. That was quite embarrassing and scary, but I learned from it. I won't run with a fever anymore and will drink more Gatorade on the course no matter how gross it tastes. :)
After this race I was feeling slightly defeated, but after a few days I was feeling better and looking to see what the next step was. I was hoping to just keep up with running for an hour and staying in shape. After a very long day of van training at camp, and many awesome discussions with fellow camp counselors, I started to debate running a half marathon. I figured it would be a good way to cap off my first full year of training. Janene was a huge inspiration in that decision. She started running at about the same time as me, but had already finished a half marathon and decided to train for a full. If she could do all of that then I knew I could run a half in the fall! Janene and I had many conversations where we swapped training stories and strategies throughout the summer and talked about if playing soccer at camp could count as speed work or cross training. :) As camp ended Janene and I decided we needed to keep in touch and after Janene's full marathon was over we did some long training runs together to prep for the Columbus Half Marathon.
Fast forward to October - It's now time for the Half! I knew Janene and her new husband Ian were running, and I talked my friend Nate into running the race also. I felt ready for the race, but also very nervous. Our longest training run was only 10 miles and I had no idea if I'd have enough left to finish the last 3.1. I was very excited for the race to start as I stood there shivering at my starting corral at 6:30am. I think I asked Nate like 12,000 times if he was excited or nervous and he kept telling me no. :( HAHA I don't think he was happy to be up that early. After we spent a while looking for Janene and Ian I was about to give up on finding her and was just hoping to find her somewhere on the course. With only a few minutes before the gun goes off I hear someone in the crowd of 17,000 people yell "CARRIE!!!" I couldn't believe it but there was Janene and Ian and her friend Gracie. Janene and Ian had just gotten married the Friday before the race (crazy right...) and they were appropriately dressed for the occasion. Ian sported a tuxedo t-shirt and Janene had a pink tu-tu and veil. They were super cute costumes which warranted many congratulations and comments from the crowd. About halfway through the race Janene and I decided it was important to dress up for EVERY race from here on out! As the race progressed we lost both of the boys to the Port-o-Potties, but we had to keep on keepin' on. Nate caught up to and passed us around the 10k point, but we were still going strong. We were pretty amazed as how good we were feeling and we decided we were going to keep pace until around Mile 11 and then step things up. And that's exactly what we did! YAY NEGATIVE SPLITS! At mile 11 we definitely sped up and actually ran the 13th mile in under 10 minutes! :) We set a goal to just finish the race, but also to finish in less than 2 hours and 30 minutes. We officially crossed the finish line at 2:28:47! WE DID IT!!!! :) That was one of the best days ever! A huge thanks to Janene, Ian, and Nate for running with me as well as my Dad, Mom, and Chris for coming out to cheer us on! After the race Nate and I capped off the exciting morning with Chipotle thanks to our Buy One Get One Coupons from the race! :)
Now that my year of running is complete I can't wait for what year two of running will hold! I couldn't have survived this year without all of the wonderful people in my life that have supported me. Who wants to run a race with me this year?
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