A Runner?

I really don’t want to go post crazy right now and leave myself with nothing to talk about later, but there’s some back story required before I can move forward with some of the things I want to write about in the future, so here goes!

At what point does one become a “runner”? Is there a certain number of times a week you have to run in order to be eligible for the title? Is there a certain number of miles you have to complete in a given amount of time? Do you have to love running to be a runner? Does a runner have to willingly sign up for a half marathon or can someone begrudgingly end up registered for one and still be a runner? Or is it simply that moment when both feet leave the ground and you are no longer walking that you become a runner?

Can someone be a runner even if they’d never use that word to describe themselves? As I promised before, here is more from me about running. I do not fancy myself a runner and I doubt I will ever call myself one. I am not athletically inclined at all and the one time in my life someone called me an athlete I almost laughed in her face. I don’t want this to be a running blog, but I find myself thinking about running a lot lately since I’ve started getting into it (again).

My running story really started back in 2010. I hated running and was completely content with the idea of never including the activity in my life. My roommates at the time were getting involved in the upcoming season of Team in Training and I was very much okay with not having anything to do with it. One of my roommates had a meeting to recruit people to join and I spent the whole night watching people come and go and hearing the little spiel about what a great experience it is and how life-changing, worthwhile, blah blah blah… I didn’t much care about it all because I hated running too much. But, by the end of the night, I made the crazy decision to join. Mostly because it was my senior year in college and at times like that, I’m all about seizing every opportunity to make memories with people. With all that training, I was able to run countless miles and a few races: The 2010 Santa Barbara Chardonnay 10-Miler & 5K, the 2010 Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon, and the 2010 San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. At that point I had turned everything around and the impossible had happened: I was totally prepared to change my lifestyle and embrace running as a key part of my life. And then...I suffered a sprained ankle during my marathon which left me unable to do much more than hobble for a few months and any endurance I had developed was gone. Since then I participated in a couple of 5Ks, but I was really just a shadow of my former running self. Sad day(s).

Fast forward to 2013. I was signed up for another 5K, but I had no real intention of training for it. Why spend hours training for something that will be over in about half an hour? Then my friends and I decided to train for the Disneyland 10K. It sounded perfect! Having already done a half marathon and a marathon, I had made the decision that I had checked these items off my imaginary bucket list and have no motivation to seek out a real long distance race again. A 10K seemed just challenging enough that I’d have to train for it, but not so challenging that I’d have to kill myself over it. Life was good. And then…through a series of events, I ended up being the only one registered for the 10K before the race sold out. The only real option offered to me at that point if I didn’t want to run a race all by my lonesome was to 1) convince people to run 13.1 miles with me and 2) transfer my registration to the Disneyland Half Marathon and pay the difference. Yikes! Thankfully I have awesome friends who were willing to take that plunge with me so here we are!

So, like I said before I don’t want this to be a running blog, but this is the path I’m on right now so I’m sure I’ll be writing about it quite a bit. Despite my “running history”, I really started back at square one…unable to run 2 minutes without getting winded. I’ll write a little more later about the things I’ve been doing to get myself back in shape and the “gear” I swear by.

So here’s the real reason I couldn’t wait until tomorrow to post this. The moment I have been eagerly awaiting finally arrived this afternoon: I received my new Flipbelt! I tried it on in my room and did the obligatory hopping in place to test it out. I’m super excited to run with it tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it goes! Here’s a little preview of what’s to come: Are you intrigued yet? 😉

Love,
Jackie