Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Happy Birthday and Running Rewind

Happy Birthday..... to ME!!!!

Today is my 29th birthday. Rather than doing a year in review of things that have happened since my last birthday, i thought i'd doing a running recap. (and there's a few pics thrown in for fun!)



I've been running for one year. December 29th, 2009, I decided to tackle a huge task. What seemed impossible to me at the time.



I emailed Sarah and told her i wanted to run one mile and made it a goal. Little did i know, that running would become such a big part of my life in 2010.



On December 29th, 2009, I ran 3 minutes on the treadmill. That was all i could do.

I tried to increase my time little by little, until i reached 1 mile on January 7th, Sarah's Birthday.

I continued to run on the treadmill, slowly adding to the distance i could run. At that time, i was more concerned about how long i could run, rather than the actual distance.




Here are the stats:

1 Mile-January 7th

2 Miles- February 11th

3 Miles- Feburary 25th

4 Miles- May 12th

5 Miles- July 21st

6 Miles- July 28th

7 Miles- August 14th

8 Miles- August 20th

9 Miles- September 6th

10 Miles- September 25th

11 Miles- October 2nd

12 Miles- October 8th

13 Miles- October 24th

Races:

5K- April 25th



15K- September 6th


Half Marathon- October 24th



Full Marathon- ???? Hopefully, one day!!!

Running has completely changed my life. In the year that i've been running, i feel more fit, more active, and love having a sport that is challenging and so rewarding. I've lost over 20lbs in the year, which i contribute to running. I ran over 400 miles last year. That's over 40,000 calories burned which comes to almost 12 lbs of weight loss from just running. I want to say all that, because it seemed so impossible this time last year. It took me 9 full months of running to get to 10 miles, which i thought i would never be able to do. I love seeing results and remembering how excited i was when i hit my first mile. I remember all the txts and phone calls to Sarah to update her on my progress, celebrating each mile. It's been a great year, and i'm so thankful. Def want to give a shout out to TPG, who inspired me to start running in the first place. I honestly don't know if i would've ever even considered it, had it not been for her. All the early long runs on Saturdays, the bad runs where i've felt defeated, the amazing runs where i was left feeling invincible, all have brought me more joy that i can even believe.

Here's hoping next birthday i can say i've run 600 + miles!!

love ya'll!!!!

Laura



7 comments:

  1. Hi Laura! I am a total lurker on your blog, but I wanted you to know what an inspiration you are to me. I am trying really hard to start running and just feel like I will never have the stamina to run 13 miles! That is mind-boggling to me! But seeing your progress in 2010 is so encouraging.

    As of right now, I do 3 miles on the treadmill. Some of it is jogged, some of it is walked. Thanks for inspiring me to keep at it! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

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  2. Happy Birthday! Hope you have a fantastic day! :) Maybe I will do 13 miles someday! :) But for tonight...just 4! :) Thanks for inspiring me to work harder! I

    Have fun celebrating YOU today! You are a beautiful lady!

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  3. Happy Birthday, Laura! I hope your day is filled with fun, laughter, and birthday cake. :-)

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  4. Happy Birthday! Your drive for running is inspirational to me, I am sure I would have never run a Half if you hadn't motivated me to. Hope your day is wonderful and you feel better! Love you!

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  5. I hope your birthday was fabulous!! Your running journey is definitely an inspiration!

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  6. Can I just say how stinking adorable you are? And how incredibly PROUD of you that I am! You are a ROCK STAR Miss Thang! Great reacap of your year and of your progress. Can't wait to see what 2011 holds for you - you're unstoppable!

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  7. Happy Birthday, Laura! Wish I lived closer to you so we could hang out! Sorry you were sick on your birthday! Hope you are feeling better!!!

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