I’ve always been a pretty healthy person. I tend to like healthy food and I enjoy working out from time to time. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized how important it is to take care of your body. As my mom always says, you only get one!
I grew up dancing, which I loved, but this isn’t really something you can continue throughout your life. The only way to keep dancing is basically if you become a professional, which wasn’t ever something I was interested in pursuing.
In college, I would go through phases of working out a lot and then not at all. Junior year, my older sister, Megan, who is a runner and what I like to call a “workoutaholic,” convinced my family to all run in our town’s Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving morning. I downloaded a “Couch to 5K” training app on my phone and started the program. I realize it sounds silly to train for a 5K, but I hadn’t really run before. A few weeks went by and my desire to continue with the training app fizzled. Next thing I knew, it was time for the Turkey Trot. I completed it, but probably walked close to half of it. Even though I wasn’t thrilled with how I did, I loved the race environment and that everyone was out there doing it together.
Over the years, the Turkey Trot has become a Thanksgiving family tradition. Since the original Turkey Trot, my dad has taken up running. A few years ago, Megan talked him into running a half marathon in San Antonio with her. He continues to run on a pretty regular basis.
My whole family is athletic and has no problem running a random 5K, like said Turkey Trot. I already mentioned that Megan runs all of the time, but she also competes in triathlons! Rachel, my younger sister, has always been athletic and even more so, determined. She played soccer when she was younger, and then moved on to cheerleading and golf. Scott, my little brother, picked up swimming his sophomore year of high school and by senior year, he made state! My dad played sports all throughout his childhood, and as I mentioned now runs all the time. The only one who can’t run the Turkey Trot is my mom. She used to run all of the time until she got really bad bersitis in her hip. After a stint filled with painful shots that required extremely long needles and the ugliest hip brace you have ever seen, she was forced to give up running forever. Being the competitive person I am, I decided this year that I wasn’t going to be the only one in my family (mom excluded) not to run the entire Turkey Trot. This, combined with my desire to take care of my body, lead me to start running.
I went to the gym two or three times a week and ran a mile or two each time, in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. Before I knew it, it was the week before the race and the furthest I had run was 2 miles. Thursday, exactly a week prior to the Turkey Trot, I told myself it was the day to run 3 miles. Up until then, I didn’t know if I could do it. That day, I ran 3 miles without a problem and I realized that I was completely capable. This is when it occurred to me how much of a mental thing running is. The only thing holding me back was all of the negative thoughts in my head — that I was bored or tired, or that I just couldn’t do it.
This year, I ran the entire Turkey Trot. I may not be fast, but I ran all 3.1 miles of it. I was so proud of myself. It felt so good to succeed at something that I didn’t used to think I could do. This is when I realized that I enjoy running. It doesn’t hurt that it is also a great stress reliever and good for my body. The “runner’s high” afterward isn’t too bad either!
Clearly my dad picked up on this. A week or two later I got a text from him asking me to do the Oklahoma City Memorial Half Marathon with him in April. At first I was hesitant. The most I had ever run was 3.1 miles! How could I commit to 13.1 miles?! The more I thought about it, the more I realized how awesome it would be to be able to say I ran a half marathon. I remembered that race atmosphere that was so inspiring at the Turkey Trot. If that was how I felt at a little 5K, how awesome would a half marathon be?! Needless to say, I gave in. My dad and I are signed up to run the Memorial Half on April 27th.
When I told some of my friends, the response was “Oh Jackie…” or “You mean you’re going to do it again, huh?” or even just laughter. You may think this is mean, but they’re right. I was signed up to run the half several years ago. I piddled around and never trained for it. As the race got closer, I ended up saying that I had an injury, which allowed me to defer my registration to the following year. I did not run it that year either. Basically, I was lazy and that is exactly my motivation this go-round. I am going to prove to everyone, and more importantly myself, that I can do it.
Training for a half definitely won’t be easy. It is going to be a journey. I’m sure there will be days when I want to quit training and just give up. I’m hoping that sharing my experiences publicly will get me through those hard days and keep me motivated. We’ll see how it goes! I guess this is just the first of many new adventures for me in 2014!
warmest wishes, J 