Take 2

I started this blog with the best of intentions. Weekly training updates, helpful tips, insights from my journey. Perhaps the reason that I quit updating it and quickly moved on to my tumblr account was that this first go round felt like a total fail. 20 weeks of attempting to train via the C25K program and the galloway method and the nike training plans resulted in me mostly walking a 10k, not a half marathon. I ran maybe 1.5 miles of it....and not all at once. My body just wasn't ready. It was pretty mortifying.

At the finish line of the Nike Women's Half Marathon in SF

That's when I realized that just running wasn't going to do it. My body was not in the shape to run. Heck, the only sport I was well suited for was sumo wrestling. So, the time came and I went for it. After the race failure in May, I started an all women's bootcamp program in June and stuck with it for 14 months. I lost 80 lbs. I ran two half marathons and a handful of 5k/10k races. I even finished the Tough Mudder at Northstar last November. I was on cloud nine...but I was pretty exhausted and needed a break. I figured winter was the perfect time since it would be cold and snowy anyway (and, to be honest, running in the cold is the most miserable thing on earth).

And the two words that describe the winter off best? Big mistake.

When I started working out again in February, I felt slow and exhausted and sore. And now I'm building my way back. Just 4 weeks away from my first Reno-Tahoe Odyssey Relay Race and I'm kicking it into high gear. Back in a bootcamp 2 days a week, running 2-3 days a week, a couple days of reformer pilates per week (usually they're on double days) and throwing in a women's soccer league just to change it up. I'm going to kick this race's ass...even if I'm still the slowest runner on my team.

If all goes according to plan, I will be running my first full marathon (eek) in December. Truth is, I'd like to take at least a minute or two off of my per mile time before I start having to run 20 mile training runs, so I've got a long way to go! This blog will detail my accomplishments, my setbacks, my running epiphanies, and a whole lot of sore legs/hips/feet. I'm writing this for me - so it will probably be pretty raw and I may even post pictures of the blisters on my feet or the weird tan lines that I get attacked with during running season (note: run in shorts if you can - a capri tan is hard to get rid of).

Be well and run on!