I started running TWENTY years ago today!
Disclaimer: That does not mean I’ve run every day for 20 years. Or even every week. Not by a long shot. There have been times when I didn’t run as regularly, like during surgery recovery, injury recovery, and when I was teaching early morning seminary when we lived in Arizona. That 4:00 AM wake up call, plus life, meant that I had to fit running in when I could. Sometimes it was more regular than others. But I was still running!
Isn’t life like that?
Sometimes we can totally nail a goal, other times we just do the best we can.
So…what pushed me to start running on October 23, 1998?
I was a SAHM mom with 4 kids aged almost 2-10, John was traveling a LOT, I was busy with a church calling (responsibility), and I was working part-time for John at home. I knew I needed to work out more regularly, and I desperately needed some ME time. Very badly. I was not a gym-lover at the time either, so that made it harder. The thought of packing kids up to go to the gym just wasn’t my thing. I needed something easy and low-stress.
When I was trying to figure out how to work in me time + workout time, I remembered way back in my first semester of college how we had to take this class called “Fitness for Life.” It was more commonly known as “Fitness for Death” because the class required you to work out X number of days a week to pass the class. So two of my roommates and I, who were also taking the class, decided to start running.
I had never run in my life—only when required in a school field day or PE class. I took dance and drill team as my PE classes in high school. 
So we started running. And when it got cold (it was a record-breaking cold winter that year in Rexburg, Idaho, which is super cold any year), we’d run in the field house. One mile was 18 times around the track. Yeah…
But I learned something from that first venture into running. I actually liked it! It was time I could clear my head, think, and just be.
After the class ended, we kind of stopped running. And I didn’t run again until that day in October 1998 when, after buying some Nikes at the local shoe store, I hit the streets by our house in Florida. After a bit of trial and error, I found this beginning running program (see below), and I followed it for several weeks. Until…
I got a nasty case of plantar fasciitis.
So I did what I always do, and I researched and researched to see how to treat it and how to keep it from happening again.
I visited the Track Shack, a specialty running store in Orlando, and they helped me find the right shoes for my feet. I had been running in the totally wrong shoe, and getting the right shoes made all the difference!
And thus began my soapbox for getting the correct running shoes for your feet AND my passion for all-things health and fitness. Which eventually led me to become an ACE Certified Personal Trainer.
Since then, I’ve done MANY 5Ks, a 10K, a 1/2 marathon, and a marathon (picture below—I can’t believe how little our kids were!). That’s a whole blog post alone—stay tuned! I’ve gone through more pairs of running shoes than I can count or remember. Although I did save my marathon shoes. We shared a lot of miles and even more sweat and tears and even more tears, so I’ll be keeping those babies forever!
Running has seriously changed my life. It’s taught me perseverance, given me confidence to try other things, allowed me to make new friends, kept me sane, helped me keep this body I’ve been blessed with healthy and fit, given me that alone time that is so important, helped me be a better example of health and fitness to my kids, formed the foundation for my career—which I am so passionate about, and so very much more. It sounds like that’s another blog post in the works. 
Twenty years down, hopefully 20 or 30+ to go! Because I plan on running into my 80s and beyond.
Once I can start running again in maybe 3-4 weeks. I’m still recovering from my foot surgery. #patience #lotsofpatience #patienceishard
If you’d like to start running, I highly recommend checking out a specialty running store so you can get the correct shoes for your feet and just skip over the possible injuries and pain and agony from running in the wrong shoes. That’s another blog post in the works too. #somanypostsIwanttodo. Here’s a link to help you find a store in your area.
And as promised, my favorite beginning running program.
Is there a runner in you? You’ll never know until you try it, and I’ve used this program to turn many friends and clients who were self-proclaimed “non-runners” into runners. It works.
And if you do want to give running a try, here are some great beginning running tips. Enjoy!
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