This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

From 2 miles to 13.1 miles. My journey on becoming an endurance runner!

I was about 10 years old when my Mom made me go on my first "long" run with her one summer evening and I still remember it like it was yesterday. Mainly because I was whining, crying, and pinching my side because of a cramp the entire time. Surprisingly I made it home without having to crawl on my hands and knees but I was more than angry with her for dragging me along on that adventure. If you told me back then I would be running 25-30 miles per week in about 12 years I would have laughed (or cried) in your face. But so and behold...here I am. Up until this summer, I only would be able to handle around 2-3 miles at a time. Running to and from the gym was my usual and at the time was quite challenging. I was really into lifting at the time and would use those runs as my cardio yet I was still not satisfied with my body. Yeah, I was extremely muscular but I was not burning enough calories and was not as lean as I really wanted to be. Being the fitness queen that I am I decided it was time for a new challenge and a new fitness regimen and thanks to a special someone I was ready to take on endurance running.

At first, I struggled mainly because my body was just not built to travel long distances. I had way too much muscle mass, and my maximal oxygen consumption was not trained to handle more than the few miles I had become used to. This was the biggest hump for me to overcome. I had to minimize my lifting habits and really attempt to lean out. My workouts were down to running and teaching my fitness classes which are cardio/plyometrics based with some very light weights. My body literally changed before my eyes. I pushed myself to run 4X per week making sure to take a couple recovery days in between and soon 4 miles was a comfort level for me. After some weeks, it was time for my first long Saturday run: 6 miles. As nervous as I was when I woke up that morning, I kept in mind the indescribable feeling that I had achieved after EVERY run I had done prior. Whether a good run or a not so good run, at the end of it I always feel accomplished and extremely proud of myself because I think back to the day where running those two or so miles with my mother was the hardest thing I had ever done. With an upbeat sing-along playlist and fresh new Sauconys (yes I do occasionally sing and run and yes I will post my playlist in a separate post) I was ready to tackle the 6 miles and not only did I complete them but I did so in under 50 minutes...completely astonished. Today I am running a minimum of 4 miles at a time, my longest distance is 8 so far and I am competing in my first half marathon in less than a month at the New Haven Road Race with the man who has inspired me to begin this journey and continues to motivate me every day. Seeing myself progress and obtain that same feeling after each of my runs is what made me fall in absolute love with the sport and I will continue running until my legs can't carry me any longer....which I hope is a long long time from now!


Find out what's happening in North Havenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?