Retrospective: My First Year as a Runner

Arriving at this year's St. Paddy's 5K offered a glace at the finish line.

Last weekend marked the official one-year anniversary of my being a "serious" runner. I use quotation marks because I know I will never be first, I have no desire to complete a marathon, and I am sometimes very lazy about training. But that's okay: I run because I love it.

Running is a means to destress and to explore new trails and new places, a way unplug the constant whirring of my mind and free up some mental RAM. I do it because it feels good and it makes me happy.

Along the way, though, I've definitely made strides (see what I did there...?) and am definitely a different runner than I was last March. I am stronger, fitter, and faster. While my calves are rock solid strength-machines, because I don't really cross-train, that's about the biggest difference I've seen. haha I realize I'd be an even better runner if I committed more to eating well and adding strength to my core and upper body. But the truth is I hate ab workouts, and then there's the recurring theme of my simply being lazy.

Once the U switches to summer hours, though, I do plan on taking advantage of a local yoga studio--yoga is a full-body workout I can get behind way more than joining a gym, and the mental benefits are just ones you can't get from an elliptical or rowing machine. And as for eating...well, let me put it to you this way: I run so I CAN eat! I may not be losing tons of poundage, but as long as I'm also not gaining tons, I'm happy as can be.

As far as how running feels now compared to then, the shin splints that killed me the first few months have been non-existent for so long I can't even really remember struggling with them. The biggest pain hurdle I'm having now is hills--oh man are my quads pissed at me after a few miles on the slightly hillier terrain I've been running! But I know this will help make me faster in the long-run (pun intended) as well as working new parts of my body (ugh, hello core). The biggest mental hurdle is adding mileage: I have a 7K in two weeks, then a bunch of 5Ks over the next few months (I'm still on the lookout for at least 2 or 3 10Ks), and then in October I will cross off the first major milestone since that first step out the front door: the all-women Perfect 10-Miler in October. Last year I ran this event, but I chose the 5K over the 10-miler. This year...yeh, I'm taking a bite out of a near-half marathon. My plan is to then turn my current training into completing a half marathon in the fall of 2015.

Crossing my first finish line ever in last year's St. Paddy's 5K: you see the visible pride and relief on my face!

What I have also learned in my year as a runner is that spring races scare the sweat-wicking pants off of me! While I managed to get in at least one, and in most cases 2, runs a month during this ridiculously cold and snowy and never-ending winter, those runs reminded me of how much fitness I had lost. So I'm easing into the season--easy runs whenever I can fit them in, and lots of races scheduled to keep me goal-oriented.

When I again don this bib and medal in October, it'll mean I've completed 10 miles woven through Mercer County Park.

Crossing the finish at the Susan G Komen 5K last October--until now it had been the PR to beat. It was also the first time I ran the entire thing continuously, with no walk breaks. HUGE!

So while I do crave medaling (it'd be kinda awesome to score a bronze in my gender age group at some point!), I'm also okay if that doesn't happen. Because I don't race the other runners when I'm out there. I race the clock and myself. My biggest opponent is the voice in my head saying "You can't do this...what were you thinking? It's okay to lose sight of your PR goal this one time." And damn it, it feels really good to flip that voice the bird and zip across the finish line knowing I just bested myself again. Oh, and also, that there are snacks waiting for me at the finish fest.

I eat PRs for breakfast: 3/15/2014 was my fastest finish time yet. What's next?