First Run - 84 Days Out

It's my grandfather's 86th birthday and we're 84 days away from the Martinsville Half-Marathon. After celebrating with family I reflect on the day hoping that I will be able to celebrate my own 86th birthday in the future. Part of the reason that I decided to train for and run in the race was for my physical well being to jump start my path back to being fit. Staying healthy is important to me. I'm doing this for myself but also for my son so that I can be there for him as he grows up.

Even though the official half-marathon training program does not begin until January 14th, I wanted to get started with small steps. It's now or never, right? I have the day off, my son is being taken care of by family... time to get started. I put on my new running outfit, lace up my shoes and strap on my iPhone with an arm band so that I can enjoy some motivational music.

I ran a route that was a mix of flat straightaways and rolling hills in a residential neighborhood for approximately 20 minutes (no timer at this point but I calculated the times on the songs that I listened to afterwards - proper timer to come soon). Running on a residential street is an adventure of it's own with vehicles passing by and dogs testing the limits of their invisible fences. If you choose to run on a street always remember to run on the left facing oncoming traffic and look both ways before crossing.

Did I walk some? Yes. Did I have to push myself? Yes. Did I feel good about the run afterwards? YES! It was a great sense of accomplishment to get this first run completed.

I'll have to admit that if I tried this first run on a circular track I would have been tempted to end the run sooner but the nice part about an out-and-back run is that you've got to get back to the start somehow. That's motivation, folks!

When my four-year-old son heard that I had gone running without him, he begged and begged to go. (For the purpose of this public blog, I'm going to refer to him as H.) When we got home, I bundled H up and we ran from our driveway to the main road and back, about half a mile. He led the way and had a blast. He had overheard me saying that the forecast called for rain the next day so that night while saying his bedtime prayers, H asked God for it to not rain the next day so that he could go running. (#MeltMyHeart) Sounds like I have a new running buddy!

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