Feeling nostalgic.

Last night, I went to Provo to visit my friend and see her new house. I decided to leave work a little bit early and go to the gym there instead of fighting more traffic at 5:00. I haven't been to Provo in awhile, and most of the time when I go, I have a specific event (visit a friend, go to a basketball game, etc.) so I usually don't have time to kill when I'm there. Last night I drove past my old house, which is on the way to the gym I used to go to, and I was feeling some serious nostalgia for the memories.

Wellington II (where I had some of the best and worse roommates of my life!)

So as I was sweating it out on the stair climber, I was looking around my old gym and remembering how it all began for me. It was Christmas 2007, and I was seriously overweight. My sister asked if I wanted to run a 10K with her, and I couldn't imagine saying yes. The day we had to run the mile at school had always been the worst day of the year for me. It was hard and painful and I wanted no part of it. But then my dad chimed in and offered me a plane ticket to Oregon to run the race if I trained and signed up. That was more appealing, since I was a poor college student and always looking for a free trip to visit my nephews. So I looked at Hal Higdon's training program, and felt really overwhelmed. I honestly didn't think I could do it. The first few weeks of training were so hard. I could barely walk the amount that was on my schedule to run.

I spent a lot of time here.

As I got a little more endurance, I ran my first 5K in Highland with my dad. It was reallyreally hard. But when I crossed the finish line, I got this rush of excitement and was so proud of myself for finishing and sticking with it. When I ran the 10K with my sister, it rained the whole time and I cried. But as I finished, I felt that same amazing feeling. So I started talking to my friends at work about other race distances, and they recommended a half marathon. So I signed up for the Salt Lake Half in 2008. At one point during that race, I seriously considered getting on Trax for the last 2 miles. It was hard. But I loved it.

I actually did one of my long runs with my work friend, Ashley, and we ran all around Springville. It was one of the hardest runs I ever did. I think that was partly because she is really speedy, and partly because she had run many more miles than I had, so her endurance kicked mine to the curb. I finished that run and was driving home and passed a McDonald's. I stopped there and got the biggest Diet Coke they sold and sat in my car for about 20 minutes, trying to recover.

Memories.

Since those days, I can run a half marathon without feeling like I might die. In fact, it has become my very favorite race distance. I trained for the St. George Marathon in 2009, but due to a knee injury, I couldn't run the race. I had to take close to a year off, just focusing on healing and low-impact exercise, and met with four different doctors in hopes that they would have an answer. No one did, but as I continued to lose weight and follow their advice, I was able to train for 4 more half marathons and run them pain-free. I might never get to run a marathon, but who knows? I am just excited to see what is ahead in my running life.