When I lived in New York a friend of mine introduced me to the past time of running. I remember being quite astonished at just how hard it was and how soon I turned into a red panting tomato. I was lucky enough to live close to the park though, and soon I started regularly heading out with my iPod to make my way around the reservoir, running for as long as I could before I ran out of breath and was forced to walk. I started with a run/walk split of about 3 minutes/ 2 minutes.
I found that running is very rewarding for a beginner. With just a little bit of persistence it wasn't long before I could run without having to stop to walk. I gradually increased my distance until I was running the full 6 mile loop around the whole park, albeit somewhat slowly. My average pace was 12 minutes a mile. I started to dream of some time completing a marathon and cheered along at the New York Marathon, imagining myself being among them at some point in my life.
Well, my life was disrupted. I moved to California and a new job and new surroundings absorbed my attention for a few years. This Christmas however, the Marathon dream returned. I decided this was the right time to really try for it, so I've signed myself up to run in the Seattle Rock'n'Roll marathon in June. I haven't really run at all in the last 2-3 years so it's going to involve getting back to where I was when I stopped and a whole lot further.
I thought that I could probably use a little help with achieving this goal and knowing that I do well with a bit of structure I decided to join Team in Training. This is an organization that provides you with coaching in exchange for your efforts in raising funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It's a great cause and if I can combine my efforts training with doing some good, then it works for me.
I'll continue to blog about my experience on this endeavor over the next few months. For more information about my fundraising - check out this page http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/rnrseatl10/cmd
