Looking back over the years running has been a huge part of
my daily life. Much of my life has been spaced
out on a timeline using running milestones to place other events around. This event occurred after my first 5K. I did that when training for my first
marathon. As I wrack my brain thinking back to where it
all began, I can’t pinpoint an exact day, but I can pinpoint vague memories and
distant thoughts running through my brain.
It all started with my dad.
Watching him lace up his shoes, strap on his watch, and head out the
door. Not totally understanding where he
was going or what he was doing but knowing he had “gone for a run”. You may be thinking I would watch him and
think in my head, I wanna be like daddy, I’m gonna run. Totally not the case, I wasn’t interested in
this thing he was doing, but I watched, I learned, I didn’t understand. It didn’t matter, the seed was planted. A seed that would later grow into something I
never would have expected.
Although my mom wouldn’t start running herself until years
later, she always exercised too. Her
form of exercise came not just in wrangling 3 children all day long, but also
through those great 80’s aerobics videos. Cue women with permed hair and side ponies
wearing leotards and leg warmers on mats lifting weights and breaking a
sweat. Now this was a form of exercise
my young mind could get into. Leotards,
heck yes! I would go in the living room,
get on the floor, and work it along with my mom. Unknowingly I was being conditioned by my
parents. I was being conditioned to
believe exercise was important. I was
learning from the most important teachers in my life that exercising and being
healthy is an important part of life.
Hence my current belief that parents leading by example when it comes to
exercise is the best way to get children moving. This is the reason why I will always share
running with Carter by taking him along on a run in the stroller or watching family
members compete in races.
My first vivid memory of running is from around 4th
grade. My dad and older brother, Jeremy,
were running a 5K, Jeremy’s first and dad was running it with him. There was a kid’s fun run, one lap around the
track (400 meters), before the 5K which my younger brother, Thomas, and I both
participated in. We ran our lap around
the track and waited in line to receive participation medals. Then we stood in the stands watching Jeremy
and dad begin the 5K. Many non-runners
and runners alike may remember a time in their lives where they thought,
running is stupid and I will never do it.
Here was that moment for me. I
remember wondering why Jeremy wanted to run 3 whole miles and that I would
never do such a thing.
Fast forward to 6th grade P.E. class, picture an
awkward pre-teen with braces standing on a cinder track, waiting to begin the
dreaded mile for the Presidential Physical Fitness Test. That was the day when everything would
change. When I would decide maybe
running was for me. I ran the whole mile
without stopping, something not many of the kids could do. I finished before everyone else in my class,
boys included. As my P.E. teacher stood
with a smile relaying my time as I crossed the finish, I memorized those
numbers in my head. I repeated and
repeated them until I was sure they would stick. I couldn’t wait until I got home to tell my
dad how fast I was. I knew these
numbers, although just numbers to me, would mean something to my dad. As I crossed that finish line I had come to a
realization that this was something I was good at and, hey, maybe I even liked
it! Reference “Green Eggs and Ham”, my
dad’s favorite book, in a roundabout way he was Sam I Am without ever saying a
word. I was totally against trying the green
eggs and ham, but finally did and realized they weren’t that bad!
That day was followed by a first 5K run in the scorching
summer heat on the 4th of July.
I wore the t-shirt everyone received in their race day packets with
pride. I ran a whole 5K, 3.1 miles! So commenced the beginning of the rest of my
running life which followed with middle school track, high school cross country and track, college
cross country, training for and completing a half marathon and then a
marathon. Running has always come naturally
to me and has become a huge part of my life.
So there was no doubt in my mind that I would continue to run the day I
looked down at a stick laying on our bathroom counter with the word “pregnant”
boldly displayed. That day a new chapter
of my running life began. This chapter void
of PRs, but full of triumphs. And that
is where my story begins.
If you are a runner, how did you get your start?
If you are a runner, how did you get your start?
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| Just for fun, this is a picture of me (in black) racing during middle school track. |
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