Monday, December 26, 2011

Getting back into the game

As many of my friends and family know, I love to read. I love everything from the classics to beach trash. I love my guilty pleasure series like Pretty Little Lairs, Gossip Girl, and the Carrie Dairies. Lately I have been getting into running books.

I love a good inspirational sports movie but reading about a certain event or game is better. You can actually get into the person's head and go through the emotions they were feeling at the time. Over the summer I read Running with the Buffaloes which is about the CU mens cross country team winning the  1998 national title. Mainly the author focused on world class elite runner and national champion Adam Goucher (he is actually from Colorado Springs!).

Recently I stumbled across his wife, Kara's blog. On her blog she was promoting Adam's new book and there was a link to her book, Kara Goucher's Running for Women. Right away I reserved a copy of at the library. Once I started reading I couldn't stop. This book was exactly what I needed to get me out of my not wanting to exercise/run funk. What really hooked me in is how relatable she is. I couldn't believe the feelings she had before a race are similar to mine. You know, like getting nervous, worrying about times, and things that can go wrong. Also, we have had some of the same struggles such as injuries setting us back from achieving what we wanted (hers were definitely worse then mine).

Obviously we both different goals and athletic abilities, but this book inspired me to get excited about running. She said how running has been used as punishment and some people cannot like running for that reason. This was exactly my first thoughts on running. Sprints were not my favorite and timed miles were the death of me. I was happy to break a sub 8 so I could be on varsity for lacrosse.

Kara sharing her love of running got me remembering what made me love running.  Once lacrosse was over and I started college I did nothing. I ran maybe a mile or two on the treadmill and lifted weights. It wasn't until 2009 I decided to make some life changes. I made list of things I wanted to accomplish. On that list was the Bolder Boulder, a 10k race. Luckily I had the support of my dad and he wanted to race it with me. After that, I fell in love with running and racing.

This book gave me something the Victoria Secret Fashion Show couldn't, rediscover my love for running and working out. Hey, if I end up looking like Marissa Miller in the process I won't complain. Some how I feel motivated to run again and try for a half marathon in the upcoming year. Every year I say I will but back out, this year I'm really going to try. If I feel ready, then I'm going to sign right up.

So, needless to say, you can find me at the gym before getting in a good workout. It feels good rediscovering why I love running.

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