There are a lot of things that we say “if I could have done things differently…” or things that cause us to say “hindsight is 20/20.”
If I could have done one thing differently? I wish I had found – rather, held onto – my “passion” for track and field/running. I’ve recently become reacquainted with it, more so in the past ten minutes since I decided rather than joining Junior League, I’d go ahead and send in a membership to the DC Road Runners. While I likely won’t run my long runs with them for a few months, I will do my track workouts with them once/week which is really what I need to get faster.
By do things differently, I mean, I would have pursued running in college. I came into running late in the game. I had run track and field in middle school and high school but I was a hurdler. Yeah I know, you probably can’t picture little ole 5’1″ me (shorter back then!) jumping 33″ hurdles. I did. Well enough. I was never that fast though. I never qualified for states, I was a second or two short but in a 100m race, a second or two is more time than you think. Mostly it was because back when I was in 8th grade and put away my softball glove after dad moved out, I picked up my sneaks, taught myself to hurdle while hanging out with my pals on the middle school track team. It was a grand time. Unfortunately, later on say Junior and Senior year of high school when I wanted to do better…I couldn’t. I had to reteach myself to use both my legs as lead legs and well…
as Ben Harper just said on the ipod…”I’m more afraid of falling…” which I was. I had a couple nasty falls in high school that temporarily set me back. But eventually I dusted off my knees and got back up.
Senior year, with at least half a dozen hurdlers on the team, I stopped focusing on that and started running the 800 and the 3000m more…frequently. I was never fast. Little legs. Little stamina. But I always had fun doing it. Which is what really matters right?
‘Cept now? I’m starting to wish I had ran in college. I started cross country running senior year of high school, I broke 25:00 once for a 5k – not horrible, certainly a lot faster than I run now – so I knew there was no way I’d run competitively at a DI school like NU.
After graduation, though I ran on rare occasion, I pretty much just stopped.
I would run 2-3 miles at the gym but mostly I just…didn’t feel like running. Boston was too cold or too hot. Or I was too busy or it was too late and there were bars to go to. Lame excuses, I know.
Now here I am. Twenty-five lbs heavier than I was on 9/15/01 when I moved into Kerr Hall at NU and I’m finally appreciating running in my life. I won’t lose all that 25, but I can certainly try and get in shape in the mean time. That’s why I’m now registered for two races, soon to be three, over the next six months. Thats why I’m joining the DC Road Runners so I can train with people who will inspire me and motivate me to do better. There are so many bloggers that I read who consistently inspire me to do better…but reading and feeling is not doing. I’m hoping by joining this it’ll make me accountable and that excites me. No more sleeping in instead of running, no more skipping saturday long runs because I’m “too busy.” I want a shot at a BQ sometime in my lifetime… well…I need to start taking my training seriously.
I’ve got the wii fit for my strength training (saving money on my gym membership starting next month), and I have sneakers, tights – if only I had a vest/fleece to run with in the cold…I need to hop to it.
Starting January 1 – this is me going for the gold in my own world. I’ll never be the fast girl, I’ll never finish first like my pal M did at the Turkey Trot, and I’ll likely run Boston for charity before I ever qualify for it. It all starts Thursday at noon at the Resolution 5k put on by the DCRR at the start of the Mt. Vernon Trail. I’m excited for this all, I’m excited to work hard because I run for the thrill of the race. The races, finishing the races…it’s what keep us all going right?
Here’s to a new year, and new goals. Expect to see more “health” related schtuff around here at Life in Pink – I should change it to be “life in pink (sneaks!)” even though my sneakers aren’t pink anymore 
**this also means I’m going to try to do one of these in the next month or two!! I miss Indoor Track!!
