10K

1 week ago, i accomplished a milestone in my life. i officially became a runner and ran a 10K! to give my stats first, it was my first run ever, and i finished in 54:45. it was a COLD morning and i, along w/ 3 of my wonderful black classmates, ran together in a suburb about 40 minutes away from school.

this was a historic occasion for me for several reasons.
1) i have realized over the past few years that gone are the days where i can just eat what i want and never worry about my figure or weight. i spent most of my life as the "small" one in the clique- and that is whatever clique i have been in. i've always been one of the smallest and over the years, i learned to embrace my size and work with it. but as i've inched closer to my quarter century bday (which was last month), i realized that i can never be so carefree again. when i eat like crap for a week, my body shows that. so does the scale. tired of weighing more than i should, i worked out like crazy this semester, running sometimes up to 6 days a week and monitoring everything i ate. my roommate initially joined me in this quest, and we lived off of salads and protein shakes, with an occasional meal that was low calorie. but as her bday came up in february, she fell off our work out and diet routine and i was left to push myself. and push i did.

at first, it was super frustrating. the difference was so slow and i felt like i was fighting for differences i couldn't see. but eventually, i began to see the difference. 12 pounds later, i was able to fit into jeans (barely) that i had all but thrown out becuz my size had surpassed them. now, my normal jeans were almost too big and i needed a belt half of the time. when i saw my bf, he was shocked to see how much i had lost. and although i have not lost those last few pounds to get me back to my ideal weight, i'm so much healthier and much more happy with my size. now, i only have to tone up, rather than drop lots of pounds to see my abs thru the fat. smh

2) i have always wanted to run a marathon. 3 years ago, a good friend of mine decided to join a popular and known team that runs for cancer. i was supposed to join her but i opted not to, partially due to my new beginnings as an 8th grade teacher. i was afraid it would be too much and i didn't want to overwhelm myself. also, i really had no desire to wake up early on weekends to run. and we had a fundraising minimum that i wasn't sure i could meet.

and to be honest, i was kind of scared. i had never done the running thing and running a marathon seemed almost impossible to accomplish, even with support. so i never did it.

now years later, i began to want to try again. running that 10K was proof that on my own, i was able to run 6 miles with nothing but my own hard work. and what was even more amazing was that i wasn't even training for the 10K. i was simply trying to shed pounds by burning 500 calories every time i hit the treadmill. but i never planned on running any race.

but when i saw the advertisement in late march, i figured, why not? i was prepared to run a 5K but i didn't think I could do a 10K. i had never run 6 miles before and i really didn't think i could do it. but as my friends began to sign up, all of them signed up for a 10K so i realized i'd better jump on the bandwagon. and that i did.

even though i finished last of the 4 of us in the race, i was so proud and excited to finish at all. and in decent time for my first run

So now, i am motivated. i decided to give that team another try in hopes of running the run of all runs... the nike women's marathon in october. although i am unsure if i will be able to run a full marathon, i'm sure gonna try. it seems impossible now, but 4 months ago, so did a 10K. i'll let you know how it goes. training this summer back home in the land of sunshine and palm trees should be an experience to say the least.