I'm not just an elementary school librarian. I do other things, too. I'm a wife to a wonderful husband. We're not planning on children, but we spoil our two dogs rotten. For the most part, they have good manners around company!
I was an athlete growing up. Played soccer from 4th grade though high school. I wasn't very good, but I enjoyed it, for the most part. I did intramural soccer in college and when I lived in Charlotte, I found an adult league that played in the spring and fall. I have accepted that my soccer days are long over, but I still need to be active. I ran track in middle school and did indoor track my junior year in high school. Running was a part of playing soccer, but I never really took it seriously.
When I first moved to Buffalo in the Fall of 1997, all I did was work, sleep and party. That following Spring, I bought a bicycle... a $75 Wal-mart special! I lived in a relatively bike friendly area, so I rode a lot. I did my first charity ride in June 1999... the Tour de Cure to benefit the American Diabetes Association. At that point, 30 miles was the shortest distance they had. So me and several others I worked with at Channel 7 signed up! 30 miles seemed like a lot, but I did it!
Not long after that, I got into running with another co-worker, Charlie Wagner. We worked the same schedule, so we met several days a week at Delaware Park and ran. I'm not sure we ever actually ran the entire thing, but we were out there and doing it.
I moved to Charlotte in January 2000. My bike moved with me. I rode it a bunch in my first year in Charlotte, but not much after that. I didn't live in very bike friendly areas. And running never happened either.
My husband is a biker and a runner. I returned to Western New York in August 2005. That first full summer I was back, I suggested we do the Tour de Cure. They had shorter distances, but since I'd already done the 30 miles, why would I want to do less? Six of us signed up and did it. I didn't train properly and I was miserable! Didn't make that mistake again. I did it again the next year or so. Alone. My husband moved on to the 100 or 65 miler (yes, he's crazy). The last year I did the Tour de Cure, I also did the Ride for Roswell to benefit cancer research. They're a few weeks apart and it was very difficult to raise money for both causes. I had to make a choice. The route for the Tour de Cure changed and frankly, it sucked. The 30 mile Ride for Roswell was such a nice ride!
This is my 4th year doing the Ride for Roswell. I haven't tried a distance other then 30 miles. The ride is just so nice! What if the next distance sucks?? I ride in memory of My Aunt Rene. She passed away in November 2008 from ovarian cancer... a day before my husband and I got engaged. She was taken way too early, so I ride to help find a cure. I will probably ride until a cure is found. And then I'll keep riding until cancer prevention is part of every day life. If you're interested in donating to my ride this year, please click
here. After the Ride for Roswell last year, I finally retired my Wal-mart special bike and got a nice Cannondale. I'm looking forward to using it for the ride this year!
Last Spring (2010), I started hearing about
Couch to 5K. Several friends were doing it... friends that weren't 'athletes'. I thought, "I'm an athlete, why can 't I do that?" So I did it. And then I trained for a 10K all summer. In the mean time, I did three 5Ks in 12 days. I didn't actually do a 10K, but I did do an 8K, The Turkey Trot. I did my best trying to run this winter, but Western New York winters are brutal. And I don't live where it's safe to run in bad weather. I tried staying at work and running on the sidewalks there. But they weren't maintained very well. I tried the treadmill at work, but my footpod didn't seem to work, so I didn't know how far I was going. It's very hard for me to put in the time and not know how far I was going!
But the weather is getting nicer and the race calendar for the summer is out. I'm planning more then three 5Ks this year. I'm going to try a duathlon next month and combine my biking and running. Last weekend, I did my first bike then run. The transition sucked! But I did it. And I'll keep doing it. I'm planning to actually do a 10K at the end of the summer. And depending on how that goes, maybe the Niagara Falls half marathon in October.
I had no plans to ever run more then 10K. But then I heard that Oprah did a marathon. It took her 6 hours, but she still did it. And she's Oprah! I know she had all the trainers and the nutrition people, but she's still built like Oprah!
Motivation is hard. I started following
Runners World on Twitter. Last week, they posted a fabulous article,
101 Kicks in the Butt. Some of them were kind of dumb, but for the most part, awesome! So, I didn't exactly do #1 (this isn't a running blog!), but now that I've posted my plans and if someone actually reads this, then I'll have to actually stick to my plans!
People have asked me why I run. I know I'm not fat. I'm not trying to lose weight. I'm trying to maintain. My favorite things to eat are the worst for me!! Loaded potato skins, loaded fries, nachos, ice cream.... yum! As long as I run, I can eat what I want and not feel guilty!