Running

It all started in December when I joined the gym at work, determined to lose the baby weight from Ethan and the other 5 lbs I never lost from having Sophie. At first it seemed torturous to even do 28 minutes on the stairmaster and a few crunches- it had been awhile and I was out of shape! My whole life I hated running. I always dreaded the long runs at soccer practice and preferred doing sprints. To me, the fact that I've even signed up for a half marathon is sort of a miracle. One day at lunch, I went for a run with Meredith and one of the underwriter's at work. We ran to the beach and back at a moderate pace and I survived! I had reluctanctly agreed, not knowing if I could even handle a run. I guess they figured that because they told me we were going for a 2 mile run instead of the actual 4 miles up and down hills to get to the beach. So fast forward 4 months and I am in my 5th week of training for the 1/2 Rock in Roll Marathon in LA on October 24th. The program generally has me working out 6 times a week for a total of 20 miles running, plus some cross training, weights and sprints. Some weeks I opt to take both days off on the weekend so then I double up workouts in the morning and at lunch. Today I ran the most I have run yet- 8 miles! I love taking runs at the beach when I can. I love that I can run to the strand from our office. I have also been doing beach runs on Friday mornings and sometimes I connect with a friend Trudi to catch up and run. Suprisingly, running has become sort of meditative for me. It's the only time of the day that I have to myself and I can clear my head. Not to mention that Sophie wakes up at 5 am every day and it's impossible to get ready for work when Ethan is running around and into EVERYTHING! It's much easier to throw on my gym clothes and leave the house to work out before I get to the office. If I survive this adventure, I have agreed to another 1/2 marathon with my boss and two underwriters. We have even started daily emails to tell each other about our workouts to motivate one another. Now they are talking about doing a full marathon but I am taking this one race at a time! And, the best part is that I feel stronger and healthier than ever before and now I weigh 10 lbs less than when Sophie was conceived. I'll post with the update after the race!!