Niki's Neverending Adventure

First off, I want ya’ll to go check out the awesome giveaway the Chic Runner is having! All you runners will love it!

I decided it would be fun to share my running story, how I got into it, etc. So here it goes! Sorry, it’s kinda long!

I was always very athletic growing up. I played soccer and softball since I was 4 years old until I started college. But, I didn’t like to run at all! I never saw that as a very fun sport. It just seemed so boring. After I started college and wasn’t playing any sports, I could tell I was getting a little bored. I am super competitive and need that in my life! One summer, 2005 I believe it was, I was at the lake with my cousin who is 3 years younger than me. She has always been into cross country and track so we decided one day to run those marvelous hills the lake has to offer! Well of course she did awesome but it was super hard for me! Probably didn’t even make it a mile or so! So being the competitive person I am, I decided this is something I want to be good at! So from there I started running 5-6 days a week trying to improve my mileage. Now it probably wasn’t the best time to start since it was in the middle of the summer but I was bound and determined!! I found a women’s only 5k in September that I decided to train for.

Once I did my first 5k, I was addicted. I did multiple 5ks and a 10k that fall and then decided that I wanted to do a local spring half marathon. So I started training. I was just amazed at how far I could run! It’s such an achievement when you hit those certain mileage milestones! So I trained really hard, ran about 6 days a week for months getting ready for this race. I was so determined to do well! So I ran the race, it was awesome and tough at the same time but I loved it. I don’t remember my exact time but it was 2:09:XX and I was proud of myself for going under 2:10!!

After this, I guess I was just burnt out. I took too much time off after the half and once I started to run again it was hard. And that was very discouraging. So over the next 3 years (Wow! I can’t believe it’s been that long!) I just ran on and off never really running more than 6 milers. I did a handful of 5ks but ended up being disappointed even more because my times weren’t what they were when I was really training hard.

This brings me to this past fall, 2008. I started really getting back into my running groove. I was running 3-4 times a week. I had a running partner who was super fast so she really pushed me. I think I was up to about a 7 or 8 mile run and was considering running the St. Jude half in December. I started playing soccer also in the fall, which I think was really a motivator for me to keep up on my running! Unfortunately, at the beginning of December, I rolled my ankle playing my first indoor game of the season and tore a bunch of ligaments in my left ankle. I was lucky I didn’t have to have surgery, only a cast and the boot. But it did put me out of commission for soccer and running. It was so frustrating because I was doing so well with my mileage and was back into my running groove and then all of a sudden this stupid injury sidelines me and I had to start over from scratch!

Well I was off for about 3 months with my injury so starting in March, I decided to run again. It was hard to start from nothing. I could barely run 2 miles! There is nothing worse than knowing how far you used to run and not being able to run half that. So it’s been a slow process building my mileage back up but I am so proud of myself that I running 6 milers now! My ankle still bothers me from time to time but luckily I’ve been able to increase my mileage without too much trouble. Unfortunately though, I am much slower than I used to be. This is the hard part. One part of me wants to start entering 5ks and 10ks because it’s fun and that’s the part of running I enjoy. But the other part of me doesn’t because I know my times are so slow and I will just be disappointed. It’s a tough battle! I am just hoping with more training and speed work, I can get back to the pace I was running 3 years ago.

I know that I am now into running for the long term. I feel so much better when I’m running and it’s something I really love. I am planning a few half's and possibly a full marathon in the upcoming year and I am very excited about that! Thanks for reading this very long post and thanks for all ya’lls comments and support! The blog world is a great outlet and an awesome way to hold myself accountable! You bloggies are awesome!!

Please feel free to share your running stories also! I love hearing how ya’ll got into the sport!

Posted in: on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at at 6:01 PM