Today is a very special day for me. Today is my 3 year Runniversary.
Three years ago today, MFH (My Favorite Husband) helped me through my first day of the C25K program.
My sister had contacted me a week or so before telling me that MSU (Mississippi State University) was offering the C25K program and wanted to know if I would do it with her. I told her I would love to, having no idea what a life changing decision that was.
I printed off the program from online and tacked it to my refrigerator. That first day, I was so excited AND terrified. It looked hard. I think I had to walk one minute and then run 30 seconds…something like that anyway. It progressed rather quickly until right before the 5K, I had to run 20 minutes without stopping. I thought there was NO WAY I could run 20 minutes without stopping!!! I figured that there was only one way to find out and that was to try.
And try I did!
I think I did absolutely everything wrong at the beginning. Well, really only one thing wrong but it plagued me for the better part of a year.
I started in the wrong shoes.
Those shoes were awful! They were blue. Blue Nikes. I had been wearing them off and on for quite a while. They hurt my feet from the moment I bought them. I didn’t know any better! I thought shoes were shoes. Right!?!
That very first week, I messed up my knee pretty bad. It was those darn shoes. MFH saw that I was quite uncomfortable so he took me to get fitted. I left the store with a pair of Brooks Adrenalines.
What a difference! My feet were happier. They still hurt but at least it gave my knees some time to recover (it was well over a year later before I could run without some type of support on my knees. I really messed them up.).
I wore the Brooks to my first 5K. That 5K took my 48(?) minutes to complete. MFH ran it with me.
That 5K was hilly (at least to me at that time). I was really struggling. He sang silly songs to me. Hummed the Hawaii 5-O theme song, switched to the Rocky theme song. When that was not working, he started dancing. All of this to help me through that 3.1 miles. He was great!!!
When I crossed that finish line, I knew I was seriously hooked on running. Physically, I was a mess. My feet hurt. I had a side stitch. Because I took so long, the bagels and Gatorade were gone…but I didn’t care. I had run my first race…successfully!!!
*It wasn’t until quite a bit later that I finally figured out that Brooks don’t like my feet. I am now very, very fussy about my shoes.
A friend of MFH’s was a Race Director a bit further south of us. She has a 12K on New Year’s Day. She had heard that I had completed the C25K and invited me to do her 12K on New Year’s.
That 5K was held the first weekend of November. I had my work cut out for me but I decided to give it a try. MFH said he would help me. This is when I discovered Hal Hidgon training programs. I took HH’s 10K program and followed it as best as I could and ran that 12K on New Year’s Day.
The rest, as they say, is history.
I absolutely love running. It has helped me shed a lot of weight, inches and clothing sizes. It has helped me get rid of quite a few medications. I am healthier physically and mentally…an all around win!
MFH and I ran our last long distance race together last fall on Oct 20, 2013. The Mount Desert Island Marathon. My first Marathon. His third. We made a week trip of it. Saw a lot of New England. Ran the race. Had an absolutely great time! But that was it for long distance races for MFH.
MFH likes 5K’s and 10K’s. He likes to run up to an hour and then he is done. Unfortunately, it takes me a good hour to get warmed up and begin to enjoy the run. We agree to disagree on long distance running 🙂
We still get to run together on Saturday mornings with our running group but other than that, I am usually running solo. I do miss running with him though. I really do appreciate all the time he spent running with me…teaching me “the ropes” as it were. We had a great time. I cherish our Saturday morning runs. Good times!