I did it
February 28, 2023
I started running around July 2021. I was tired of not exercising and I wanted to change a lot of things about myself. I grew up with asthma, and I never really took to running. In fact I hated it. I wanted to force myself to get better at something that I didn’t like.
Today I ran a half marathon. Not like a structured run, but 13 or so miles around where I live. This has been a goal of mine for a long time.
When I started running I could barely run a mile. I had a 2 mile route that I stuck to, and after a few months or so I was finally able to run 2 miles without stopping. This was a huge win for me. After months of starting and stopping and huffing and puffing I had finally reached my 2 mile goal.
After I hit 2 miles I wanted to reach higher, but I was never really sure how high.
I arbitrarily picked a half marathon distance because a full marathon seemed way too long.
Last year (2022) I had this plan that I could go for it, and I set out one morning in February or so to try my hand at the half marathon. I made it over 10 miles. For weeks I had screwed up knees, I was weak, and had trouble walking, but it was worth it to see how far I could go.
It took me another year to hit the half marathon.
Staying consistent was such a struggle. I had good weeks where I would do 3-4 consistent 6 mile days, but more often than not I would mess up my schedule, or get so burnt out that I would revert back to much smaller distances. I also got sick multiple times, including my first bout of COVID, that put me out for weeks on end. When this would happen I would have to start from the beginning . That means probably 3-4 times I went from running 6-7 miles, and rolled it all the way back to 1-2 as I recovered. It was extremely defeating.
I have very little experience beyond pushing myself to optimize a routine and stick to it. I bought myself running shoes at some point (I started out with treadless 2 year old shoes I had). My goal is to keep running, keep learning, and hit 1,000 miles last year – last year I ran a little over 500 miles. Maybe this year I’ll even plan a full marathon.
Wish me luck.