There is someone special who is responsible for my love of running. Someone who was my inspiration to take those first step. Someone besides me of course.

Since I’m not sure how she’d feel about me using her name we’ll just call her M. I’m wondering how futile it is to hide her identity because anyone I work with will know exactly who I’m talking about, but I’ll do it anyway.

M and I work together at the Y. She’s a really sweet woman who I always enjoy spending time with. Back in 2012, when I was considering the idea of becoming a runner, we worked together a lot and she would always try to convince me that I should run.

It’s great exercise. It’s fun. She named all the reasons why I should just get started and my reply to her was, “when both boys are in school.”

M asked me why I would wait and I had a legitimate reason. Who was going to look after the boys while I was running? Bill was still at the golf course at the time and I couldn’t always depend on his schedule for anything. 

But finally M’s words hit home somewhere and I decided to give it a go. I’ll work around the kids and Bill’s crazy work life. I’ll figure it out.

I downloaded the C25K app and started on the track at the Y. I was there mostly because they would watch the boys while I would run and also because I was terrified of the roads.

The longer the distances became, the more running inside became like a chore so when Logan was in preschool I would run through my parent’s neighborhood. It was quiet without much traffic to worry about and that’s when I truly saw what M had been trying to show me all along. Running is awesome. It’s freeing. It’s fun. It’s empowering. It’s everything I needed, mostly because it’s much cheaper than therapy or booze.

Oh and the weight loss was pretty sweet too.

Since I started running I’ve finished quite a few shorter races. I’ve completed The Broad Street Run (10 miler) twice (2013 & 2015) and I’ve completed four half marathons.

M and I talk running just about every time we see each other now and it’s been like that for years. We cheer each other’s progress and achievements and give words of encouragement to get each other through the rough patches.

She is my runspiration and the reason I got started instead of putting it off for years and years. This kind and caring woman will never know how grateful I am for her encouragement to start and all the kind words she spoken to me since. I truly feel that without her influence I wouldn’t have ever started to run.

My dream is to pay it forward. My dream is to give to someone else what M has given to me, the love of a sport and a community that keeps me both physically and mentally healthy.

If I can inspire just one person to start running then I’ll be over the moon excited.

Do you have a person in your life who has inspired you to step out of your comfort zone and try something new?

I do NOT recommend not running for weeks and weeks and then stepping up to the starting line of a half marathon.

While I don’t recommend it, that’s exactly what I did.

I signed up for the race (to be my third running of it) back in December, not only because I enjoy the race and have been doing it since it’s first year, but also as inspiration to get out and run more regularly. I’d fallen into a funk and I knew that running would help me out of it, I just needed to get out there.

Well, that funk was bigger than I thought because I only ended up running the first handful workouts from my training program. 32 of 400 training miles, that’s it! I just didn’t want to, that was it. Sure I made up excises about time but they were only half truths.

As race time grew closer I knew that there was no way I’d be running my usual speed so I decided that I’d run with Bill. He’s a couple minutes slower per mile than me so surely I could keep pace with him for 13 miles. I actually was excited at the prospect of running together with him and not worrying about that ever important PR. I’m enough of a realist to know that you don’t PR a half marathon without training and if I couldn’t PR I’d just have fun with it.

I smiled as I ran through the streets of Philadelphia, taking in the sights around me and letting my mind wander to other things. I sang along with my music. I chatted with Bill. Things were going great.

Until they weren’t.

Around mile nine my body started to give out. By mile ten I was sunk. I stopped to walk and it didn’t take long before Bill noticed I wasn’t right behind him and he came back to push me along. There I was, sobbing in pain, “running” down MLK Jr. Drive. I’m sure the cops we passed were wondering if they needed to intervene.

The next three miles were spent in agony, some of the worst pain I’ve had in my life and I’ve seen some pain. I walked, I ran, I cried, I walked some more. My right hip and knee were on fire. I think at one point my IT band tried to escape my body entirely. I altered my stride. I tried to favor the left but I was questioning if I would finish. In fact, had it not been for Bill I probably wouldn’t have finished at all.

Finally, mile thirteen, only a tenth of a mile to go. I blasted my music so I couldn’t hear anything else and turned on the afterburners. I hauled ass up that last hill and across the finish line. Looking back it probably wasn’t nice to leave Bill in my dust after he had helped me make it through, but the competitor in me had to finish strong. I was going to be hurting anyway so go big or go home, right?

See the pain and elation all over my face.

The stats:

My official time: 2 hours 32 minutes 52 seconds (11:40 pace). That’s something like 50 minutes slower than last year’s time but I’m only a little disappointed. When I take my lack of training into account I’m actually quite proud I finished at all.

How do I feel?

For the Thursday after the race, pretty damn good. I was a stiff the last few days and pretty sore but now just the injuries are bothering me. Yep, the injuries. It’s not like I thought I’d escape not training for 13.1 miles without a scratch.

My right IT band is not feeling to great and because of the issues I had with my right side, I was a little too hard on my left and now my left foot/ankle is bothering me. I’m not worried about the IT band, I’ll get that back to normal before long but after all I went through with my right ankle, I’m a little concerned about this pain on the left. For now I will rest, ice, elevate and use the electro-stim machine.

So there you have it. Do NOT attempt a half marathon without doing some training first.

Always earned, never given!

I run for the bling!