Why I run..

I had a dear friend from High School send me a note on Facebook asking about my tips and how I started running.  She was inspired when she learned that I have been training to run in my first Half Marathon this Saturday.  I was very happy to hear that I motivated a fellow Momma to do something so challenging!   It was not the first time I have been asked about my work out habits and I decided that I would like to start a blog to share some stories about how this full time working Momma got herself into SHAPE! 

I am going to start with my running story first, even though this is definitely not where I started working out, nor ever saw myself actually.  Summer of 2012 I decided to do a stroller 5k down in HB.. thinking of course this will be easy with a stroller as my crutch!  Man was I WRONG, not only did that 3 miles feel like FOREVER.. some of these ladies out there were sooo intense with their "racing" strollers and kick ass bodies that I thought to myself.. I want to be where they are!  And with that I started running, did a few more 5Ks, an 8k trail run and a 10k.  My biggest challenge is yet to come as I prepare for my first Half Marathon this Saturday.

Now, one thing I shared with my girlfriend is that I do NOT love to run..most of the time while I am doing it I think to myself.. WHY am I doing this!?!?  But what I do LOVE is to finish, to meet that goal that I set for myself and the sense of accomplishment it gives me...it is SOOO addicting!! Here are my tips that I gave to her when first starting out with a new running career...

1- Start small.. the hardest miles are the first 3 and after that your body just gets into a groove.
2- Create the perfect running playlist - I have mine on my phone strapped to my arm that gets me pumped (Gwen is a must!)
3- This should actually be #1.. find a running buddy.. someone who will hold you accountable and keep you motivated!
4- Give yourself goals and stick to them.. go to www.runningtheusa.com/race and pick a race to sign up for. When u have a goal coming up it will keep you motivated and not let you quit! I try to do a run every 2 months.
5- Track your progress online. Me and my buddies use www.endomondo.com installed on our phones to track our miles using GPS and we can all see eachothers progress and encourage.

Anyways, this is just a start of some of my girl thoughts.. I hope there will be more to come..