3.8 for 38

I turned 38 this weekend! How did I celebrate - a donut cake and 3.8 miles...

I have been a "runner" since I was in middle school and got talked into joining the cross country team. I loved the coach, had a few friends who were going to do it and we got to take one trip each season to Wisconsin Dells (waterpark capital of the world haha!) for a race. It involved being outside (which you know by now I love) and not sitting on a bench in a gym so I gave it a try.

5 years later I accidentally left my poor sister, a freshman, behind in my last high school run as a senior on an extremely wet, muddy, cold day at the sectional meet. We usually ran together or at least close but she tripped down a muddy hill and I kept going; in my defense it was the sectional! A chance to go to state so I didn't want to stop and my coach would have killed me. (I want it known, I had absolutely 0 chance of going to state. I was always mid to end of the pack!).

A ton of blisters, hours and hours on yellow school busses, near hypothermia during several early spring/late fall meets and a zillion carbs later, I graduated and really didn't know if I'd ever run again LOL.

Alas, I got to college and saw that there was a Theories in Motivation 1 credit psychology class where the only requirement to pass was to run a half marathon. I actually was missing running and figured what the heck. I was a freshman and still unaware of the stress/work load that was coming. The professor was phenomenal and actually motivated us and lo and behold ,I ran my first half on the Ripon College campus in April 2007. My parents drove the 2 hours from Peshtigo and were at the finish line and took me to Pizza Hut after :) Walking up the 3 flights of stairs to my dorm room that night was painful!

I ran the Peshtigo Fire Tower 5/10k a handful of times as well as the State Fair Cream Puff race after that but no more half marathons. There were even spans as along as a year where I didn't run at all.

This past summer, I decided that when my son Robbie went to full day kindergarten in September that it might be a good idea to get back into running consistently. I LOVE running in the summer/fall when it's early but nice and light out and warm but not middle of the day blaring hot sun. I got new shoes and a more legit watch to track miles/routes and even signed up for my 2nd half marathon! I discovered a lot of cool lake views/roads on my long runs in Oconomowoc. I also ran the 10k in Peshtigo in September as a training run and it just so happens that my middle school coach was running too and we did the whole thing together! What a full circle moment. The route goes right past my childhood home (my Relief!) and my kiddos were cheering/watching the race.

I completed my 2nd half marathon - the Hot Cider Hustle - in October in Shorewood, WI. Man did it feel good to accomplish (18 years after the first wow)! My mileage has definitely taken a hit since then (hello winter!) but I was determined to do a run on my birthday and why not - 3.8 for 38?! The most important question is always - what to eat after??! Donuts and nachos of course! I'm not saying I run to eat, but there have been signs....

What's next? I've got the spring Milwaukee half on my calendar but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I'm going to be stalking the Run Disney site too for next January's race - it's super hard to get into so we will see!

Thanks for coming along on my running reminiscence!