A Mom That Runs

Back in January, I started training for the Vancouver Sun Run. This is a 10K run, that takes place in downtown Vancouver and weaves it’s way through English Bay and False Creek.

I have always disliked, nay, loathed running!

Never being a “fit” looking woman from puberty to current status (I have also given birth “naturally” to two children), I have struggled with being overweight. Just before my daughter turned two, I trained and participated in Femsport, an all women fitness challenge, which kick started my journey into fitness. After Femsport, I started spinning, and took Zumba classes. I began to see results within a couple months and I was feeling great! Then it happened, I got pregnant.

FemSport

My energy level dropped. Blah, I felt so crappy that I couldn’t fathom exercising. Galdarnnit, I was doing so well with staying motivated to workout, but alas, my body decided otherwise.

Jump ahead 9 months, and we welcomed our wee little dude. Labour and delivery went awesome and I was keen to jump back onto the fitness bandwagon ASAP. I started off by spinning again, then the personal trainer that I did Femsport with, Margaret at MaxPo, said that she was going to start a running group and training for the Sun Run in January. I pondered it for awhile. My sister is a runner and my husband used to run as well, and they both had said for years, that running was the best way to lose weight. I figured, well it’s worth a shot. I’ve never tried it, so what the hey.

January arrives and the group begins. To my surprise it was very easy. We started off slowly by running for 1 minute, walking for 2 and repeating this several times. We were given homework runs to complete on our own before we met up again as a group the following week. Gradually the length of the run times increased and my stamina did as well. Eventually, I was able to run straight for 40 minutes! Are you kidding me? I never dreamed that I could manage this. After 5 months of run training, the BIG day arrived for the Sun Run. I was nervous and asked my Facebook friends to cheer me on virtually through my Nike+ running app that I had on my iPod. Throughout the run, my friends cheered and it brought tears to my eyes, but it kept me motivated and I finished the run with a time of 1 hour 10 minutes.

I kept up the running for awhile, but my husband travels out of town for work, so it impeded my run schedule. I am full time Mom and we don’t use babysitters or have family members available to look after them, so whatever I do, I have to do it with 2 littles in tow. If you break for too long, your motivation slips and your endurance starts to dwindle.

I recently started working out with a local studio, however my family’s schedule began to conflict with my workout schedule, so I had to discontinue my training which really sucked.

After taking a break from running for a couple of months, I have started it up again. I forgot how good it felt to get out and just be focused on myself. I can run when I can fit it in, and I can take my son out with me in our recently acquired jogging stroller. The weather has become chilly with the onset of winter, so precautions are made so that I remain safe while out on my run. I wear a headlamp, a flashing armband and reflective clothing. I have also placed some Dots and Dashes on my gear, to increase my visibility during my night time runs.

Dots and Dashes.

My goal is to get out every day for an hour and hopefully the momentum will stay with me.

Wish me luck