Running Rehab: An Unscientific Experiment

Guest post by Kay

After being diagnosed with CF at age 21...I had spent the better part of my life telling myself that I was an exception to the rule, that my case of CF was mild and falsely thought there were probably no others with the disease that were doing so well. Sure, I had my moments during exacerbations when I worried and wondered if I’d get to see my daughter grow up...but for the most part I did as I pleased and was hospitalized on average once a year. I’d been a runner since h.s. track and when my daughter was young I had a sign taped to my alarm clock that read “RUN OR DIE” so I’d get up and run before her Dad went to work. But over the years my FEV1 had inched down slowly and I’d left the world of the moderately affected and dipped under the 50% FEV1 level and into the world of the severely affected. Life got harder. It became difficult to jog. I’d get so winded after just a quarter mile jog that I took to doing a jog/ walk type of workout and even that was so hard I began to skip more and more days. My daughter had asked me to run a 5k at a 1/2 marathon she and her dad were doing and when I told her I couldn’t even run a mile she gave me a bit of a hard time saying “anyone can run a mile...you’re just using CF as an excuse”. Ugg. So a week later when my nurse coordinator forwarded a Jerry Cahill video where he was running with oxygen...I was all over it!

I contacted Jerry through Facebook and he told me about using a wrist oximeter and putting the “tank” into a camelback backpack for jogging. I asked my Doctor who always had a witty sense of humor if I used oxygen for exercise if I would become oxygen dependent...his reply “we are all oxygen dependent” haha. But “no, it won’t mean you’ll need to supplement O2 for everyday things”. It took a few weeks and a little experimenting, first with liquid oxygen (not good it can’t take the jarring of the jogging and all the O2 would expel after just a short distance). I exchanged 3 back packs until I got one that had more padding and was comfortable to carry the M6 tank. And then I got in a routine...quickly running 3 and 4 miles at a time. I decided to train for the first annual “Run to Breathe” that Jerry was organizing for BEF in Central Park and invited my daughter to join me. Jerry provided encouragement to the jogging posts I would make on Facebook and we joked about being the last ones on the 10k course. Raceday came and the adrenaline and crowds had me jogging at a pace much faster than home. Central Park is relatively flat in comparison to the Fox River Valley where I trained. I was pleased with the time and my daughter and I had a fabulous 4 day trip to NYC.

Back home from the trip and I wasn’t feeling particularly well. When I went to the clinic I had the worst PFT results of my 49 year old life with Cystic Fibrosis. FEV1 was 36%. It scared me. Badly. I had been getting to know other CFers through social media and a few were on the transplant list. One was at 30% FEV1 so a personal score of 36% was alarming. I did not understand it. I’d been running about 20 miles a week and instead of getting better I was getting worse. I’d lost a lot of weight which had never been a problem as I am pancreas sufficient. But with all that running I could not eat enough. I got a tune up and recovered to 42% where I stayed for a couple years.

Chicago winters can be rough and long. This one has been the worst in my memory with temps dipping down to -18 degrees F at times. I was sick in October, choosing to do a 21 day tune up, and then mid December a bug that was going around at work settled in which took me six weeks to get over with Cipro and Prednesone. January rolled around and I still wasn’t myself and I looked at the option of IVs again and turned around and literally ran in the other direction. I decided to hire a running coach and see if having someone with expertise in building a program could help motivate me. I’d been reading the journey about those pre and post transplant go through with a mandatory “rehab” period both before and after. So Coach GP and I embarked upon a Running Rehab program for these old CF lungs of mine. He said “I’m going to be in your pocket”. By that he meant he would hold me accountable for the workouts and text me and ask me what I’d done each day. Coach is in the NYC area and travels a lot, so I’ve never met him...but working virtually worked very well. We spent a couple weeks seeing what I could do and just getting used to the idea. It was all on the treadmill as cold air is not my friend. My knees hurt, I was tired...but determined. Then he gave me regimented workouts that included interval training and progressive runs. I chose to just “do as I was told”. It made things simpler to just be assigned a workout and do it and not have to make a daily decision on what to do and how far to go. Wimping out was not an option. I let him be the boss of my schedule. The schedule was tough as I work two jobs but I fit it in most days, sometimes getting to the gym at 8pm, sometimes awakening at 5am to fit it in. A month went by and my knees no longer hurt. One day I started running without hooking up to the O2 tank (just forgetfulness) and thought, wow, my O2 sat seems ok...lets see how far I can go without it. I made it a full mile before the O2 sats dropped below 90%. Psyched!!! I hooked up for the rest of the workout and considered that bit of un-supplemented running true progress! Days that followed when I tried it again did not fair so well only making it to 1/4 mile before I needed O2. Every day is different, I learned. Storm and weather shifts affected my lungs, stress at work affected my lungs, but I started to see that pushing myself to run on the worst of those days ALWAYS had me feeling better after the run.

Then, the day came around I’d been training for. The clinic appointment. The day before I’d come home from work to do treatments and had a terrible coughing fit that lasted 30 minutes. It wore me out and my lungs reacted by tightening up. I thought ugg, I’m going to do terrible on my PFTs tomorrow. The next day arrived and I jumped a train and headed down to the city for my appointment. My lungs felt really tight and my expectation was that I may need prednisone to open them up again and if my FEV1 was low...I might even have to do IVs. Ugg. But, my first blow into the tube....showed 52%. Wow. Even though I wasn’t feeling particularly well, my airways were far more functional than before the running rehab. I’m optimistic my score would have been higher if not for those storms rolling in and putting me in a funk.

So, “what have you learned...from the past month Miss K?”, Coach asked. “I have good days and bad days” I said. He said “you respond well to multi tier training on many levels but it has to be very carefully measured between both not overdoing it and undergoing it”. It had become apparent that just running long, slow runs and adding more and more miles as I had done previously was not the right approach. My current program has me running a mix of intervals and progressive runs Tu, Th, Sat.  On MWF & Su I am doing weights and some cross training. I plan on working out 7 days a week, knowing I may miss one as I listen to my body and may need to take a day of rest when muscles and resolve are fatigued. Running more and running longer didn’t seem to pay off the way varied running has and please note: it’s also way less boring :-)

I’d recommend if you’re having trouble kick starting yourself to find a coach to work with. Athlete training programs used for healthy folks can also do great things for those of us with CF. A coach that can understand that there are some limitations but also not be afraid to push may be just the thing to get you started in the right direction. Exercise IS medicine!

Top Ten Tuesday: Things Learned Through (and Loved) About Running

It's not Monday, but I'm (Mandi) posting anyways because when I posted yesterday I realized the last post before mine was Thursday's...clearly Ronnie needs a little back up.

I have been re-inspired to run the last month. We have been doing our HIIT classes the last 3 months and I have put running on the back burner, but while on vacation I went on a couple long runs by the ocean and fell back in love (does anyone else have a love-hate relationship with running?) I also did that half marathon last week, which drove me to want to step up my running game. I decided this week to increase my miles and enjoy some time with my feet on the pavement. Here are the top ten things I have learned through running and that keep me in love:

10. Practice makes perfect. Very few people can lace up their shoes for the first time and go for a long run. It takes time. While I love things that I'm good at, I also love a challenge and knowing that I can continually get better at something.

9. My body will adapt. I once had a soccer coach tell me that, "your body is unlike any other machine, it will adapt to the stresses you put on it." This has been one of the most monumental statements in my life. I repeat it to myself during long runs. I encourage myself with it when I'm in our class and it feels like I can't do another clean and press or another burpee. I tell it to myself when I don't feel like working out. Because I know that if I push myself I get better, but that the opposite is also true. If I sit around, my body will adapt in the wrong direction. Running has showed me this without fail, every time I step up my running, I can run farther and farther.

8. My brain is more powerful than my body. There are times when my body screams to stop. To walk. To take a shortcut home. But somehow my mind can overpower what my body is telling me. I have to admit, the positive self talk in my head is something I rarely share with people, as it may be some of the most embarrassing mental dialogue of all time. But it is incredible what your body can do when your mind tells it that it will be done. I may or may not think to myself "legs engage" before a big hill. There's a chance I have "raced" the mailman down a stretch of road while trash talking him in my head, "I'm on foot and keeping up...what's up now?!" (Please erase that from your brain). I repeat over and over, "you're not in pain, you're just tired. Being tired isn't a good enough excuse to stop," probably 35 times on any given run. It works every time. #Brainsareawesome.

7. I will never be the best - and that's ok. I know I will never be the best runner on planet earth. For a type-A who's a perfectionist, not being the best at something makes me uneasy. I am driven by success. I like to be the best (yes, I said it...and I know I'm not alone, so no snickers, peanut gallery). But running is one thing I know I will never be the best at. I will never win a race. I will never be the fastest or be able to run the farthest. There's something healthy about being forced to sit in the middle of the pack - and learn to feel comfortable with being average.

6. I am intense. I am certain my husband, brother, and parents all just laughed reading that. This is no secret. I'm pretty sure even my dog knows this about me. But running has taught me just how intense I can be. I can push. I can feel like I'm about to faint and still put one foot in front of the other. In fact, Ronnie refuses to run with me, in part because of my intensity...but also in part because...

5. I can be happy even if I'm not comfortable. No one likes that person during a tough workout. I am that person. I have learned in a big way through running that my feelings don't need to be dictated by how I feel. If I'm uncomfortable, it's healthy to be joyful in the place you currently are. Running had taught me to be comfortable with discomfort. To look around at beautiful surroundings while my body aches. To thank Jesus for two legs that burn. I have tried to let this bleed into other aspects of life. In fact, I know for certain it is learning this lesson through running that allowed me to joke throughout my unmedicated birthing process - the reason I was giggling and smiling between pushes. Through running, discomfort never became an excuse for a bad attitude.

4. People bond over shared interests. Ground-breaking? No. But seriously, how cool is it that two runners passing on the street almost always smile or wave at each other.

3. The best thinking is done alone. Sometimes the world is noisy. We live in a world of constant communication and influence from others. Running allows time alone with me and my thoughts. And my best thinking can be done when I'm alone with my thoughts.

2. I'm competitive with myself. I am a competitor. I like a good competition. I really love competition with myself. I like to better myself. I like to show the me of yesterday what's up. Running has showed me this through and through. It kills me if my run today was slower or shorter than yesterday. I've learned I really can refine myself more through competition with myself verses with others. I can't always be better than others, but I can always be better than I was yesterday.

1. My body is a gift. I have been given all the tools I need to be active. I have been given a machine that will get up and move. We all have our insecurities about our bodies, but when it comes down to it, if I'm capable of getting out and running, I know I need to thank God for what he has blessed me with.

The 4 Lessons of Cystic Fibrosis

Guest Post by Katie Broekema

Hello everyone! My name is Katie Broekema, I am a 22 year-old from Michigan who has Cystic Fibrosis. I am going to share a little bit of my Cystic Fibrosis story with you over a two-part guest blog, so after this post stay tuned to see the role Cystic Fibrosis plays in my life currently.

I was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis as a young child, but I never really knew what that meant until I was in high school. I was very healthy as a child; I did not even have a nebulizer until I was 16. My parents have always made a special effort to let me live a normal life, including forcing me to run cross country and track for my high school. I did not realize it at the time, but this was the best thing they have ever done for me. It has shaped the rest of my life, and the teams I have been on are the largest influences in my life. It is because of these sports that I have met my best friends, and it was with their help that I am the person I am today. The life lessons and friendships I have gained through this are unparalleled. I ran cross country and track in high school and in college, and this experience has been life-changing. I have had the most amazing support team, and they helped me become the athlete that I am today, with a 5k PR of 19:47 and 10k PR of 42:36. During this time, I have learned a couple lessons that I want to share with you because of their direct application to life with Cystic Fibrosis.

The first lesson is that you need to be willing to put in the work. Just like with running, handling your Cystic Fibrosis takes a lot of time and effort. There are definitely days in college that I did not want to get up and go to 6:00 a.m. practice, but I needed to. Doing the extra work is what made me be a better runner and a real competitor. Similarly, taking that extra time to do ALL your medication and treatments is necessary in order to be at your peak of healthiness. Just like with running, when you put in the extra effort you give yourself the opportunity to succeed. When you do not put in the effort, you rob yourself of the chance to see what can happen. I am not trying to sound pious, preaching this from the point of view that I always do my medicine, because that is not true. In fact, I didn’t do my medicine all the time during my freshman year of college and I got what I deserved; a 2-week hospital stay over Christmas. I have made it my goal to never be in there again because of something that I can control. I know that I will most likely need to go into the hospital again, but I also know that it will NOT be because I was not doing what I needed to in order to stay healthy. Unfortunately there is not a magical formula you can follow to run giant PR’s or to keep yourself super healthy, but doing what you are supposed to at least gives you a fighting chance.  

Along with the lesson about work follows the idea of trusting those who are in charge of you. For running, this is the coaches. Too often I have seen athletes who think that the coach is full of crap, and that they know better so they will do their own thing or not do all of what the coach asks of them. NO! If you are in a position where you do not trust your coach and believe in the running strategies, you need to seriously consider your position on that team; it may not be the right place for you. Similarly, in the healthcare setting doctors and the medical staff are your “coaches”. If you do not agree with the treatments and medications that are being prescribed, then you need to consider finding another place to go. It is not good for anyone if you do not do your treatments, for you or your medical staff. When you say you are doing a specific treatment, but really you are not, you are hurting yourself and the Cystic Fibrosis community as a whole. Medical professionals rely on us to tell them what does and does not help. When they see no change in you and the doctors think that you are doing a treatment but really you are not, it can cause them to doubt the treatment.  That treatment can make a difference is someone else’s life, or even yours, but you were unwilling to give it a chance.

This leads me to the next lesson that I have learned, which is to always believe in yourself. This is YOU we are talking about, who knows you better than yourself? Therefore you should ALWAYS make the final decision about your medical treatment or coaching regimen. This was a running lesson that I needed to learn the hard way. I struggled during my college career running because I did not listen to my body. I spent so much time trying to keep up with the rest of my team that I was not able to compete well during the races. An injury finally forced this rest time upon me, and it paid off when I ran my best time in both the 5k and the 10k during my senior track season. With running, this was something that was my fault. I was in a situation where my coach did not know what was going on with my body. How could he? He does not have Cystic Fibrosis; all he knows is what I tell him. Now apply this to your health in the doctor’s office. The doctors do have an idea about Cystic Fibrosis in general, but they do not know what is going on with you; what would work best for your lifestyle and for you personally. They can only learn this through a discussion with you. As an example, my doctors wanted me to be on Tobi every other month while I was in college to help keep my lungs clear. That is what the medication is supposed to do, in theory it seemed like that would be a good idea but it just did not work with my schedule. I was too busy to commit to that much treatment; and making the commitment actually made me sicker rather than healthier because I needed to sacrifice sleep to do the medication. After having a conversation with my doctor, we decided together that the best plan would be for me not to do the treatment. Without them knowing my schedule and how it made me feel, my incompliance would have seemed like an act of defiance when in reality it was a recognition on my part of what I was able to do at the time.

This leads to my final lesson, find a group of people who believe in you and are willing to be your support group. For me, my running support group and my Cystic Fibrosis support group are one and the same. This is actually very emotional for me to write this now, because they are some people who have been so significant in my life that I know I will never able to thank them enough for what they do for me. I challenge you all to find a group of people like this in your life. Find those people who push you, and make you better than you are now. They are the ones who will help make you strong and able to push past the difficult parts of this disease. This group wants you to succeed, and you want to succeed for them. Because I know once you find a group of people like this, you will be able to grow to your full potential in whatever you do.

These lessons have been instrumental in my life. Although some lessons may have taken me longer than others to learn, I know I am where I am today because I learned how to put in the extra work, I began to trust in my doctors and my coaches, I believed in myself and my abilities to discern what is best for me and I had an amazing support team. I firmly believe having these four things can also help you succeed in whatever you choose to do, like it helped me with my running and taking care of my Cystic Fibrosis. These lessons have also been helping me out with my schooling, which is something I am going to talk about in my next guest blog. Are these lessons something that you feel you have a firm grip on, or do you struggle with some of them?

BIO: Katie is 22 years old and has lived in Michigan her whole life. She graduated from Albion College with a double major in computer science and communication, and she is currently working on a Master’s degree from Central Michigan University in communication; with a focus on health communication. In her spare time, Katie enjoys finding new research topics, preparing to teach her COM 101 classes, helping coach the local high school cross country and track teams, running, cooking and convincing various family members that they should get her a Pomsky puppy. (Look them up, they are adorable!) She would love to hear back from people who have read her posts, her email is Broekema.ka@gmail.com

Like Riding a Bicycle.

About a month or so ago I got back into the Couch to 5k program after a running hiatus. I took the hiatus while doing various cardio programs that were working the heck out of my lungs and making me cough just as much as running. It was nice to give my feet a break (if you don't know I've dealt with foot issues since I started running), but it got to the point in which I felt like I had to run. Coming from me, even with the name of this blog, is a bit weird.

I hit certain points where I feel like I have to prove to myself that "I still got it". About a month ago I hit that point and wanted to prove to myself that I could run consistently, and based on history, I needed a program to do that. I picked the C25k because I've been successful with it before and it does a great job of easing the participant back into the grind that is running.

I started off great for the first couple of weeks, but then, I got bored. I couldn't stand to walk for as long as it called to walk and I didn't want to stop running when it called for me to stop. That's when I decided to take the plunge, and just run!!

For the past couple of weeks, I've been running every other day and it feels great. I usually let my feet rest on the weekends, so it actually works out to about 3 times a week. I'll start off with a 5, 10, 15 or 20 minute walk (whatever I'm feeling) and then I just go for it. Whether it's a mile run to my gym or a 30 minute run on the treadmill, I've been running until I physically have to stop. My stamina has definitely picked up in the last week, and I'm getting to the point where it's not torture the entire time...just most of the time :)

It just amazes me how quickly the body and lungs can "remember" to run. Like I said, it's like riding a bike...just a lot, and I mean a lot, harder!

Altered Couch to 5k Running Program

Since it's been so long that I have ran consistently, I decided to get back to a running program that slowly introduces mileage. This is adapted from the Couch to 5k program as it is a little longer in length with a more gradual increase in time and therefore distance. It can be altered further, and if you find that your alterations work much better for you, please let me know what they are!!

Enjoy!!

I'm a Wimp

First things first, I feel I should say this is Mandi posting, since it's not Monday! Although, in the context of this post, Ronnie is a wimp too...

Let me explain...

On Sunday my mom and I did the Phoenix Rock n Roll Half Marathon. We decided about a month ago to run/walk it. Neither of us had been training for it, but we both are in reasonable shape and keep up a decent amount of running. Up until the race we both were just doing 2.5-3.5 mile runs a couple days a week. I should mention, I was doing an interval training class and we were both lifting at the gym, so we weren't just sitting around, but never-the-less, we weren't running much. I did do one 7.5 mile run a couple weeks before the race, just to see how it felt. The 7-miler felt ok, but to say I was ready for it to be over about 5 miles in would be an understatement.

Based on our training, or lack there of, we decided we were just going to run/walk it for fun. No pressure. We figured worse case we'd run half and walk half. Our plan of attack started at run 2, walk 1. So we'd run 2, walk 1, run 2, walk 1, repeat. Then the day before the race we decided we'd shoot for run 3, walk 1.

On race day, we felt a bit nervous. We both didn't care about our time or pace, but I think neither of us wanted to be the one to hold the other one back. Standing in our corral, we got our game faces on (aka, joked around by how out of shape we were and that we were crazy for doing this). Here we are!

The view from our corral

The gun went off and we were on our way...well almost. It was a wave start, so each corral was started separately. We had to wait 30 minutes to start...that was a LONG 30 minutes. We started out strong. We both felt good, with the exception of a couple aches in our joints from the cold air, but those went away once we warmed up a bit.

Mile 2 came and went, and we kept running.

Mile 3 came and went, and we kept running.

Mile 4 came, we ran another .5 and decided to walk a bit.

As we walked we realized we still felt our legs. We weren't out of breath while running, our legs were just tired and sore. But they continued to be tired and sore while we walked. We were being passed by people. We are both too proud to be passed (yup, I said it). So between being too competitive and still feeling our legs while walking, we didn't walk the full mile we intended, we walked around .5 miles or a little less. So we started running.

Another 4 miles came and went...and we decided to walk a bit. Again, we still felt our legs, so we started back up in a little less than .5 miles. Here's us, mid-run...clearly I had a bit of trouble getting a good shot.

We ran. We felt tired, but we ran. We joked that the key was just to be more proud than you are out of shape.

At around mile 11.5 we decided to walk another .5 just to "rest up" before the final push. Again we walked just under .5 and started back up.

It was the last 1.1 miles. We both were tired. Here is my rockstar momma pushing through (she didn't know I took this...sneaky sneaky).

It didn't feel like a walk in the park...but 1.1 miles later, we had crossed the finish line. We did it in 2:09:22 - at a 9:53 mile pace. Here we are within a couple minutes of finishing.

I learned a valuable lesson through this half marathon experience. I'm a WIMP. Yup. I am. I had only been running 3 miles. I ran one 7.5-miler, and decided that was enough. I was tired. But then, without legit training, I ran 13.1. You know what that means? That means I didn't push myself nearly enough leading up to race day. I had the ability to run FAR FARTHER than I had been. I had the ability to run 13.1, but I was stopping after 3 or 7.5 miles. I had been wimping out...FOR MONTHS.

I can't help but wonder what I am capable of if I push my body on a daily basis like I did on Sunday. How much faster would I be? How much farther would I run? How much more fit could I be? Because I put in a lot of hours at the gym and working out, I had never stopped and asked myself am I being my best? Am I achieving my full potential? On Sunday I realized I'm not! If I had to guess, most of us aren't pushing ourselves as much as we could. Most of us sell ourselves and our potential short. I think in one regard or another, lots of us are wimps. I thought I was pushing myself, until I pushed myself even further. I've decided not to wimp out anymore. I'm going to push myself beyond what I thought was pushing myself before. My motto always has been (thanks to an old soccer coach), "our body is unlike any other machine, it adapts to the stresses we put on it"...this weekend I realized I'm not putting enough "stress" on it!! Look out body, you're about to be PUSHED like never before!!

The Unlikely Runner

Ran Across this article, liked it, and thought I would share.

The Unlikely Runner – A Beginner’s Guide to Running

I was that girl at school who permanently had a sick note for sports lessons. It was always ‘that time of the month’, a headache, a sore tummy, a sprained wrist… the list goes on. And my mum, faced with a palpitating nervous wreck, would diligently sign the notes excusing me from whatever team sport was on the agenda. As a teenager (and a fully grown woman) I am uncoordinated and uncompetitive.

Ball games are my worst nightmare.  I simply cannot throw or catch. So you can imagine everyone’s surprise when, at the age of 21, I ran my first halfmarathon… and my second at 22. And my third at 23! The girl who hated sports has well and truly caught the running bug. So how did I do it?

Start Small. Very Small

After failing to get excited by exercise in my teenage years, my weight started to creep up when I reached university. The only activity I did was walking to lectures, and even that got me into a sweat. Blessed with the classic pear-shaped body, my thighs were starting to reflect my leisurely life.

So on a hot sunny day, on a whim, I pulled on my completely inappropriate Converse (the only vaguely trainer-like shoes I had) and went for a jog. I ran for about a mile around the park and back again, ending up as a sweaty mess. But as I showered my red face clean, I realised how exhilarated I felt- and that was where it all began.

From then on, I went for regular, small runs around the same park. Swapping my converse for a cheap pair of running trainers (my ankles were starting to complain) and hooked up to my iPod, I would jog slowly for about 10 minutes. I learnt quickly that running flat-out would get me nowhere, so I lowered my expectations and kept within my limits. From there, the miles started to creep up.

Enter a Race

I entered my first 10k run after a couple of glasses of wine.  It seemed like a great idea at the time. Luckily for me, paying the £20 fee stopped me from backing out when I woke up the next morning (£20 is a lot of money for a student after all). So I started increasing my runs from ten minutes to 20 minutes, and then from 20 minutes to half an hour. Soon I was running 3 miles quite comfortably and I was feeling good.

To encourage me even further I brought myself some proper running clothes- being kitted out in expensive Lycra really puts you in the mood. Upping the distance to 6 miles was a challenge, but I soon learnt to ‘split’ my runs- running the first half slowly and then increasing the pace in the second half. Finishing my first 10k was a fantastic feeling.  I displayed my trophy proudly on my desk and pinned my number on the wall. Best of all, I lost around 4 pounds in the run up to the race.

Rope a Mate In

Seeing how well my running was going, I managed to persuade a friend to come on a run with me. Luckily, she was my height and about the same fitness level, so we were evenly matched. Abandoning my iPod, we began to plan our routes and start going out earlier and earlier. The best thing about running with a friend was the motivation; you can’t back out if there is somewhere waiting for you in the cold and the dark at 7am!

After another few glasses of wine one night we thought it would be a great idea to enter a half marathon (you can see a pattern emerging here). And so the next day we found ourselves with no choice but to create a training schedule, and stick to it religiously. Runner’s World has some great ready-made schedules for runners of all abilities. We had about 4 months before the race, so had to up our mileage quickly. We promised ourselves that after our first 10 miler we would eat a foot long Subway- the perfect inspiration!

Runner’s High

After my first half marathon I felt like I was walking on air. Well, actually I was exhausted, I ached, I nearly threw up, and I couldn’t walk up stairs for about 3 days afterwards (physiotherapy was covered on my health insurance, but luckily I didn’t need to use it!) But it was all worth it when I crossed that finish line and was handed my medal.

Although I wasn’t going to win any prizes for my time (I am only 5 Ft 1  and my legs are not built for speed), I did not stop to walk once. From that moment, my love affair with running really kicked off. The girl who got picked last for the team at school had run 13.1 miles, and done it in style.

Since then, I have run another two half-marathons, and I am considering entering a marathon. The best part about running is that you can take it at your own pace, and there are no team members relying on you to do well. If I can do it, anyone can, so get out there and take that first step. You may become addicted!

Original article can be found at http://www.hivehealthmedia.com/runner-beginners-guide-running/