Journey back to running.

I started running way back in high school. I ran cross country in the fall and track in the spring. I even walked on the track team at the small college I went to. But just before the season officially started I tore cartilage in my knee. It was devastating blow to my ego and to my physical training. I had surgery months later and contacted my coach about how to get back in shape for the next season. He told me "You'll never be back up to par." Which basically meant "Don't come back out next year." I was crushed. I slowly worked my way back up to running by training on a bike and elliptical. 


Fast forward about seven years, at that point I would have considered myself a jogger. I didn't do it all the time but I regularly went to the gym. I wasn't happy that I wasn't running but I couldn't motivate myself to run. My husband enjoyed going to the gym with me but neither of us wanted to run together. Then I found out I was pregnant, got really sick with bronchitis and the doctor made me stop exercising completely. About six months after I delivered our beautiful daughter I started back on the elliptical and I hated it but still couldn't motivate myself to run alone.


Two years or so later, January 2011 my husband got a job as an Associate Priest in Pensacola FL at The Mission Anglican Church. I made a friend at the church who was a runner. She and I talked about the local running store, Running Wild, and that it hosted a women's running group. We started going together. Then I continued to go, week after week. Slowly I started making more and more running friends. 


Then in about July I heard about a race that's a big deal in Pensacola, second only to the Pensacola Marathon. It's called The Double Bridge Run. Its a 15k that starts in Pensacola, crosses over three mile bridge, goes through Gulf Breeze, crosses the Bob Sikes Bridge and then finishes in Pensacola Beach. I though that sounded like the coolest run ever but never dreamed I could do it. 


Along with my favorite women's running group (ok, the only one I have been a part of) Phat Girlz and a couple of dear runner friends I worked my butt off for the next six months.


Well as of February 4, 2012. I can say that I'm a Double Bridge 15k Finisher.

Yup, that's me!

Through a lot of training and support I finally feel like a runner again. I've got my eyes on bigger, longer goals. And I look forward to running them with my runner friends here in Pensacola.


And now I can also say that:

I look forward to encouraging other women to sweat along with me. Whether it be my friends here or my friends across the country. I love to run and I love to sweat. Running makes me feel beautiful, so I will keep doing it and keep sweating right along with it. I'm enjoying this new chapter in my running life.

Want to Sweat Pink with me? Check it out at Fit Approach

God Bless.