Happy 7 Months of Running Anniversary!

I just realized this week that on November 2nd, will be my seven month anniversary on my journey to becoming a runner and losing weight. 

Wow, seven months!  That's a long time, something that I can't really grasp my mind around. 

I may be frustrated with my weight loss and that I'm stalled right now but I am not frustrated with my running at all.  The weight will come off, I know it will and so I just continue to focus on running. 

Where I have come in the past seven months amazes me, it truly does and if you are a reader of this blog (thank you) but I also hope that my journey inspires you that you can do something that you never thought you could do.  For me, that was running. 

I so badly have always wanted to be a runner.  After all these years of seeing people who were runners and being intimidated by them and just in awe of them and their ability to do something that seemed so hard....and now I'm apart of that group.  And sometimes I really can't get my mind around it.  Sometimes it really feels like an out of body experience and I find myself questioning..."wait I did what??"  My old me can't believe what the new me can do! 

I started out on April 2nd, just walking.  That's it, walking three miles several times a week with shin splits that I thought were going to rip my calf apart.  Working through that point and having the courage to take my first run.  It was only a block or two...but I did it.  And for the first time ever, I felt like I could maybe do this running thing.  And I worked at it.  A lot. 

I'll  never forget how nervous I was to buying my first pair of actually running shoes.  Going into that running store and having the courage to face the real runners and telling them that I wanted to be fitted for a proper pair of running shoes for myself when I was clearly not a runner. 

I dragged my daughter out on her bike and I followed her around our neighborhood. 

I asked friends and family to run with me even though I knew I'd be a lot slower than them. 

I ran in the heat, the hottest heat, which now reminds me to be grateful for the cooler temps. 

I remember the street I was on when I felt like I could go a lot further and ran my first mile. 

I remember ever so slowly working up to two miles and when two miles became "easy" and my comfortable distance. 

I know how hard I had to work to get to 3 miles, which was just a lot of running and getting my legs used to it. 

I've learned how to breathe on my runs and my lungs have gotten used to it.  They don't burn anymore. 

I've ran four 5k races...two of which I could only run half or 3/4s of but I signed up for them anyways. 

I've gotten faster and not by training, just by doing what I know to do and that's running often. 

I've battled the mental battles and have yelled at myself to keep going. 

I've learned how to "trick" my mind into going further. 

I've won the mind battles and have realized that my body can go a lot further than my mind thinks I can.  

In seven months I have become a runner and am able to run three miles and will soon be running my first five mile race in just 22 days.  

I cannot believe what I have done in what seems like such a short amount of time but it was hard work, determination and realizing that it DOES get easier over time.  

I can't believe where I've come in seven months.  I find it hard to believe sometimes that I've actually been the one whose done this but no one else can do my runs for myself, I have to.  I should be proud of myself and what I have accomplished and I am!  

I set out to become a runner by my 30th birthday and I am already there and I can't imagine where I'll be when it actually is my 30th birthday.  

Happy Anniversary to myself!  It's been an amazing journey in this past seven months, A LOT of sweat, a few tears, some blisters, lots of sore muscles, gallons of water, lots of bad habits broken, new habits formed, and an unbelievably huge amount of physical and mental strength earned. 

Here's to many more months and years!!!