I have never ever been a runner! As far back as elementary school, I despised running. We would run across the gym and do laps for the Presidential Fitness Test (I'm not even sure if this exists anymore?). Those short laps felt like hours of effort. Of course, I was a pretty big kid in school, so it didn't help that I was carrying a lot more pounds than the average child. For many years I played football, and enjoyed everything about the sport EXCEPT the running. The sprints and long runs were a pain in the butt! My entire body ached and I felt out of breath even after a few minutes of running. I always desired to be able to run because it seemed like a true sign of fitness.
Fast forward to about 6 years ago, and my then girlfriend and now wife suggested that we start running. She had done a few half-marathons, and the medals looked pretty cool. We would do the occasional Turkey Trot, and 5k to be more active, but never truly got into a running rhythm. We thought it would be a great idea to do a Disney vacation, but with the added incentive (I didn't think of it as an incentive then) of a half-marathon.
Disney Half-Marathon
I ran (more like walked pretty fast) my first half-marathon at Disney World in January of 2016. There was very little preparation on my end leading up to the half except for a few 5ks and a 10 mile "run." I will always remember the 10 miler because the prize was a pancake breakfast by the Kiwanis. When I finished the run (second-to-last), the volunteers were taking down the signs and the pancakes were all gone! Talk about a bummer! However, in the back of my mind, I knew that finishing was what mattered most. There was a price to pay for the finish - my legs and back ached so bad that I went home and slept the entire day.
On the morning of the Disney Half, I felt fairly energized for a 5 A.M. start. There were so many people in the race, which forced each seeded corral to start a few minutes after the other. When Mickey Mouse said "3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . GO!" I was off. I jogged about half a mile and started walking as I was already out of breath. The cool thing with Disney is that you can take pictures with the characters at each mile marker. These rest breaks were one of the main reasons why I didn't completely throw in the towel! Another incentive was that my wife was cheering me on at various mile markers, and the crowd was so enthusiastic. I finished the half in a little over 4 hours, which was somewhere around a 17 - 18 minute mile. At the time, I thought I did great! Little did I know that I could do much, much better with less weight on my frame and a training plan.
Getting Into A Rhythm
After my half, I felt content to just continue with doing the one or two local 5ks annually to make it look to the outside world that I was a runner. In February of 2018, after realizing that I needed to get my butt into shape, I started doing Crossfit at a local gym in New Orleans - Krewe du Crossfit! My hatred for running carried over into the Crossfit workouts. Whenever there was a 1 mile run or even a 400 meter run in the workout, I would scale it down to the rower. I hated to look at the white board and see a workout with a run. There were some days that I would look at the workout the night before, and skip out on the class because I knew that running awaited me. Yes - I was that petrified of running!
As you all read in my first blog post, I did a lot of working out with Crossfit, but didn't change my diet in the least. After a grueling evening at the gym, I would typically grab a double cheeseburger and cheese fries. Sometimes I would get a milkshake or slush. Of course, even with working out every day, the overeating did nothing to help me get into shape. It actually negated any effort that I put in.
I started changing my diet for the better in August, and saw some great results in a few months. The progress led me to begin training for a second half-marathon - The Louisiana Half. In my mind, I thought that the true definition of fitness is to be able to run for a long distance without getting out of breath. In this regard, one way to show that I achieved some level of fitness was to finish the Louisiana Half a lot faster than I finished the Disney Half. I trained from September, 2018 through the first part of January, 2019 with the goal of a 2 hour, 30 minute time. I started off running and walking a mile, until I graduated to running a full mile. My average mile pace was around 12 minutes. I progressively started adding on miles to my runs / walks to make sure I could get through 13.1 miles. The longest run that I did was 10 miles a week prior to the half.
The most important part of any training plan is dedication. I was dedicated to finishing the half in a respectable time. I remember running 6 miles on Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas to ensure I would not falter in my training. I racked up a sizable amount of miles in training. On the morning of the Louisiana Half, it was around 32 degrees in Baton Rouge - perfect weather for a run! I finished in 2 hours, 36 minutes, which was half the time of the Disney Half! It was a bit disappointing that I didn't reach my goal of 2 hours, 30 minutes, but I finished!
Since the months following the Louisiana Half, I stepped up my running a notch. My daily workouts consist of Crossfit in the evening followed by 3 - 5 miles of running. As you all know, Louisiana weather is hot in the summer! To keep from passing out or getting heatstroke, I tweaked my plan to run in the morning and do Crossfit in the evening. I have progressively decreased my mile time from 12 minutes to a personal record of 8 minutes, 44 seconds a few weeks ago. I never thought I would see a sub 9 minute mile, especially considering my prior distaste for running! Let me tell you - If I can do this, you can as well!
What's Next?
What's next in my new found running hobby? Well, it is to continue running and hopefully get a little bit faster each race! I ran an additional half-marathon in March, as well as the Crescent City Classic 10k in April. I have signed up for two additional 5ks on Friday and Saturday of this week. My goal is to get a sub 8 minute mile and run a full marathon by 2020. I achieved one goal today - a sub 30 minute 5k!
All of these running goals would have never become reality had I not lost weight and started to move. The key is to just start! It will be tough, but it will be absolutely worth it. Invest in one of the couch to 5k apps or get outside and start walking. If you run / walk a little bit more each day, you will work up to running a mile without stopping. With time, you will notice results. The most important thing is to NEVER EVER give up! As Dory said in Finding Nemo, Just Keep Swimming!
