Four years and four miles

This morning I resumed my training for what will be my first running road race in September. I had been sick last week and pretty much a coughing couch potato, so I wanted to ease into cardio and ended-up doing a light jog for 15 minutes. I've always liked to have running in my regular cardio work-outs, but it was my cardio vice. Thirty minutes on a bike or elliptical trainer was not a problem, but when it came to running, it just took my breath away and I felt like I was hauling a ton of bricks with every foot stomp. It's taken me quite some time to build-up to my current pace and running endurance.

About four years ago I started regular work-outs and a better diet as part of a plan to drop the 20 or so pounds I had gained while living in the Netherlands. Really bad eating didn't do me any favors while I was living there and I was under the false impression that I was exercising because I was biking every day to and from work. But my daily biking didn't seem to counterbalance all the fries with mayo, cheese, butter, milk, Dutch desserts, and bread I was consuming. So after only a couple years of living on a Dutch diet I was tipping the scales at 5'4 and 160lbs. I've never been super skinny, but this was a lot of weight gain for myself in a short time. I was not very happy about it when I returned to the States and I felt like how could I let this creep-up on me? So then I decided to do something about it!

Changing the diet was actually the easier and instant part, I was living alone again and could moderate all the dairy and bread consumption. No more appelflaps, oude Amsterdam cheese cubes, or kaas souffles to tempt me. As for exercise, I started on cardio training. I was most comfortable on the elliptical machines, but I really wanted to get into running. There was the benefit of higher calorie burn in less amount of time and plus I knew it would be a hurdle for me to jump. In the beginning, I was barely jogging along at 5mph and usually ended-up doing a run/walk for 15-20 minutes. Gradually, from month to month I increased my pace and tried to run straight without stopping. Now I can run at a pace of 6mph for 25-30 minutes. I never thought I would be running at this pace so for myself this has been an achievement. Also, the weight loss came with all these lifestyle adjustments and I did finally drop all the Dutch poundage, but I'm more proud that I can run and enjoy it!

Now for a new challenge, I've signed-up for this short road race as an extra push to motivate me into the 9 minute-mile category. Hopefully I can complete the four mile race at this pace. The thing I'm most worried about is the hill. Cville is very hilly and I mostly run on a treadmill at the gym because I dread the hills outside. Since this upcoming race is outdoors I do need to train more on the tarmac, but the fresh air will be nice. I have looked at the race map and the course is relatively flat, except for this gradual uphill segment between mile markers 2 and 3 so that should be interesting.

I want to give it a shot, my first road race, and set my personal running goal. In any case, I'll also be running for a great cause because all the fees and donations from the race go towards the University Cancer Center.

If anyone is interested in starting to run, these sites helped me with my running woes.

www.coolrunning.com - Has great training schedules to help you build-up to a race, from 5K races to a marathon.

www.mapmyrun.com - Best nifty online tool to chart a running course in your neighborhood that provides information on distance, elevation gain, etc. Also, you can log your mileage and it calculates how many calories you burn, etc.

Happy running!