Fitness Friday: I. Am. A. Runner.

I am a runner. There was once upon a time I never even dreamed those words would come out of my mouth. I didn't become a runner overnight and actually I had run 3 races before I would even consider muttering those 4 words. I had some preconceived ideas of what a "runner" was and I didn't think I was one of them because I didn't think I ran fast enough or far enough or even liked it enough. Then one day I was enough; I believed I was a runner.

I started running 3 years ago when my son was 10 months old and I was thinking I really needed to get some plan in motion to get back in to shape again. It was then that another mom posted on Facebook that her husband was looking for people to do a Couch to 5K program that he was being sponsored to do and we would get a shirt to wear in the race and they would pay our first entry fee. I said I "might" be interested to which she replied, Great! You're In!

Wait! What just happened? I didn't have time to make any excuses why I couldn't do it or how to delay this decision. I decided not to over think it and just do it. I was looking for something to get me going and it landed in my lap. No excuses.

We ran as a group weekly and we were responsible to run the other two times on our own and at the end of the program we ran a 5K that we picked out together. During our weekly meeting I met this wonderful woman who would very quickly become a friend and is now a very dear friend and we still meet weekly to run together.

Running with this new friend is what helped me to keep up with running. We each did another 5K a month after that with different friends but kept meeting to run and talk each week. I didn't want to give up hanging out with her, so I didn't give up on running and we decided after the first of the year we would start training to run a 10K together. I never thought I would run a 5K, let alone a 10K. It was at this point I muttered "I think we might be becoming runners." When we finished that 10K that just 8 months after our first run, I hugged her and said "We ARE Runners!"

Since then I have gained many more running partners and done a lot more races including my first half marathon this past April. That half marathon just solidified in my mind that I was enough. I am a runner. I don't run too long of distances on my own; I actually just ran 9 miles by myself which was the longest distance I have done alone. I like to run with my friends. The camaraderie I feel mixed with the endorphins from exercise are a mixture of two feel good feelings that I love. I love that mixture. But I will still run on my own too because I am a runner. in a few weeks you will be able to read about me completing my second half marathon. I still cannot imagine doing a full marathon, but then again I never imagined doing a 5K, a 10K or a half marathon. But I'm a runner, so who knows. And now you know my story.