Around May I decided, enough is enough… Tired of the 20 extra pounds I was carrying around and the lack of energy I had. My solution was to take up running. Nothing crazy mind you, just a way to try and get into better shape. I needed a motivator so I got a friend to agree to do a 2 mile run with me. First run was the Hall of Fame 2 mile race.
I don’t believe I have ever actually run a 1/2 mile let alone 2 miles. So, for me this was quite a distance. I started my training on the ellipto that was sitting in the basement. First time, 3 minutes- thought I might die! Slowly, but surely I was able to up my time. I soon found out that there is a bit of difference between an ellipto and hard pavement. The Hall of Fame run went well and I was actually able to get my 2 nephews into the run. We won’t discuss how they did…
This time was to be a 4 mile run on Halloween. Would not have been a big deal if I would have kept running and training. However, I got sick, my son got sick, my wife got sick, and life in general, so… short version I hadn’t run in at least a month.
On the Monday before the run my sister calls and asks if I was still running because her son, one of the nephews from the 2 miler, was planning to run. Well, since I had asked him to run, I couldn’t back out…could I? So, I ran that Monday night- 3 miles- my legs were sore till Friday (run is Saturday).
I wake up early Saturday morning. Cold, raining, and WINDY! Would we still run? Phone never rang with a nephew wanting out, so off I go. It actually stopped raining by run time, but was still cold. Off we go.
In the first 1/4 mile- I thought I was done… breathing hard, legs hurt a little. Kept going- now feeling pretty good. At the 2 mile mark- I swore it should have been the 3 mile mark… man, that will mentally send you back.
Coming around the last turn (1/4 mile to go) there was a man down, 2 people around him, and an ambulance… My sister tells me after the race, he broke his ankle and she could hear the snap! I honestly did not think I would finish- running- at least.
I did finish. 4 miles 35 minutes, a little better than front half of the group… Very happy. Now I need that next carrot in front of me to keep me going. I got a long way to go.







Who would have thunk it?


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