September first, I decided I needed to do something and stick to it (for once). I picked running. I had done it back in 2012, but stopped due to a foot injury. So I ran. I ran a whole two miles–which at the time was the longest I had ever run continuously in my entire life. Now I was sporadically going to the gym and trying to keep up some kind of exercise schedule that would keep me healthy, but also make me feel better. I decided I needed to work towards something bigger than just running until I was tired.
In the beginning, I followed a 5k training program that told me how much I should run, and when I should run–it had me running every other day, and slowly increased my mileage from 1.5 miles a day to a final 3.1 miles. In October, I decided that running was going to be something more to me than just running a 5k really well. I wanted to run the NYC marathon. So I changed my schedule to run a long run on Sunday, a short run on Monday and a medium run on Wednesday, with any races welcomed during the week.
Nick, my best friend, joined me on my journey. He’s in nearly every single running photo, so get used to his handsome face (ladies, he’s single–send me yo’ digits). We ran in the park, I ran on a treadmill, I tried running on the streets of Brooklyn (ick). Soon my foot injury came back, and I quit treadmill running.
And then we started racing. A lot. And then I started realizing one million things during these runs, and running did for me what I was hoping something would eventually do: It lit up my entire universe with one hundred billion possibilities. It completely changed the way I see myself and the way I see everyone else. It allows me to be surprised on a daily basis when I succeed and allows me to feel a healthy disappointment in myself when I fail.
Most importantly, it helps me to feel connected to the people who cheer me on, the people who run with me, and the people who tell me they’re proud of me. Here’s my running journey, and here’s where I will tell you everything. It’s pretty damn awesome. Also, the photos are rad. Especially when Christian takes them. Such a photo master.
