The Year of the Run

I've never really liked running.  As a teen, I only ran to stay in shape for soccer.  When I didn't have soccer, I didn't want to run because it was always dreadful.  About five years ago, I started running again and enjoying it.  I ran several 5K races but then had foot surgery and never got back to running.  Running seems to have gotten way more popular and I've always been slightly jealous when I heard people talk of running half and full marathons.  Last fall, we happened to be out to dinner on the night of the Marine Corps Marathon which is held here in DC.  I saw people with medals and had a wild thought...maybe I will do the MCM in 2012.  The next weekend, we were in NY for the kids TV show appearance and it just so happened to be the weekend of the NYC marathon.  Again, people with medals and my crazy thought that I could do one too.  Coincidentally, James got me some new running clothes and Lois was in town for Christmas and New Year's...she suggested a run on Christmas Day.  We ran about 3 miles and ran several more times before she flew back to Florida.  I had to do it on my own then, but I started researching races so that I would have something to focus on.  The first distance I set my sights on was a 10K...a St. Patty's Day run in Quantico.  Running it would give me guaranteed entry to the MCM.  I find that I enjoy running more, and was blessed with a very warm winter and spring so that most of my training runs were outside but a number were on the treadmill and that worked well too.  I ran the 10K in the midst of March trips to New Jersey...and it went very well.  My time was very consistently a 10 minute mile, and I finished in 1:04.  I am now signed up for the MCM in October, and a half in June in Annapolis.  I know this will be a challenge, and I often wonder if my crazy thoughts were really just crazy but I'm committed to making them a reality.

In the course of this new found commitment to running, I managed to convince Quinn to participate in a Young Men in Motion program run by his school.  It's a group of 4th and 5th grade boys who gather after school once a week to train for a 5K.  He really didn't seem interested at first, but then he agreed to do it.  He seemed to really enjoy it.  A couple of Sundays ago was his 5K, and I was his buddy runner.  We combined running with walking, and it was a challenge to keep him going and push him to the finish line.  But he did it, and he even wants to do another so that he can better his time.  We finished in just over 39 minutes...pretty good for a 10 year old.  I typically run a 5K in 30 minutes or so, and my (unstated) goal for us was under 40 minutes so we met that.  

We're also signed up for a 5K as a family in May...and James has been running more, mostly helping me on my longer training runs.  It's definitely looking like the year of the run for our family, and I'm excited to continue my training and increase distance!