Running

I never quite considered myself a runner.  Growing up, it was always this thing I had to do as part of the workout for whatever sport I was involved in.

As a cheerleader, we used to run around the football field to warm up.

Once I started playing tennis, running was always part of conditioning during off- and pre-season training.

Then when I joined crew, running was the daily warmup/form of torture.  I remember when we used to have to run what we called the “pier run.”  Everyone hated it and it seemed like it went forever.  In reality, I think it was just five miles.

In fact, when I quit crew, I joined my high school’s track team.  Because I couldn’t go from crew to nothing, I joined, but I never really LIKED it.  I just needed something to keep me going.

In college, I quit running.  Whenever I’d go to the gym, I would hop on an elliptical and call it a day.

For some reason during the summer of 2010, I had this strange desire to start running again.  The first run sucked.  Like really sucked.  But I knew it could only go up from that first run.

Then I traveled to Boston, and while taking a walk one day with some friends, we decided to pick and race, train and run it together.  For some reason, I suggested the Veteran’s Day 10K, which was being held on my 25th birthday.  Why I wanted to spend my birthday running 6.2 miles, I’m not sure.

But I trained, ran that race, and never  looked back.  The sense of accomplishment when I crossed that finish line was something I can’t describe.

That was just the start of my running journey.

The highlight of my running journey was in February 2012, when I participated in the Disney Princess Half Marathon.  I ran with two friends, and it was by far the coolest race I’ve ever run.  The experience of running through Magic Kingdom = priceless.