WHO AM I?

If you have been following my blog & my health journey, you know that I have recently taken up running as a way to deal with my anxiety & to try to be a more healthy individual. When I first began this journey in January, my goal was to only run a 5k & be done with it. However, the overachiever in me wanted to do more. Go figure.

Last month was the first anniversary of my mother’s death from cancer. In honor of her, I decided to create a team for the annual Fred Hutch Shore Run in Seattle with my friends & family. If I’m going to make my body run a ridiculous amount of miles for really no reason at all, at least it would be in honor her & my money would go towards cancer research.

Since I had already just ran two 5k races, training for a 10k was something that didn’t seem hard to do. This time around, I tried a different app, the Nike Run Club. I was able to create a plan to train for my 10k & put the exact date of my race. I used this app & attempted to run 2-3 runs a week, while also still continue my regular weight/cross-training routine. Not going to lie, there was SEVERAL times I started to think maybe I should just do the 5k instead & just try to be faster this time. But, I wanted to challenge myself & prove to myself I could run longer. The longest run I had completed before the date of my race was only 4.5 miles. I wasn’t able to run much the week and a half before the race because I had recently had lasik surgery (blog post to come) & so I was a little nervous about running 6.2 miles…. the longest run I ever did in my life.

I remained positive. If I had to run at a super slow pace, I was okay with that. I was excited that my siblings (well one of them) ran the 10k with me, as well as my partner & close friends. Having them all there & just the natural hype of the event gave me SO MUCH energy. I can’t believe I ran it all & in 1 hour 6 minutes!!!! I know that is not a athletic or magical type of time… but I was shocked! In my head, I had already thought I would be closer to a hour & a half. Like, look at this! I freakin’ ran almost all of Seattle.

The entire time I was running & felt like I needed to stop, all I thought about was my mother & how hard she fought for her life. If she could live a full year & a half longer than what the doctors predicted, I know I could finish 6.2 miles. Thank you, mommy.

& fcuk cancer.

So what’s next? My overachieving ass signed up for a half marathon in August. LOL. Let’s do this.

Photos of my friends, siblings, partner, & I at the 2017 Seattle Shore Run.