The Circle of Inspiration!

This is a concept that I talk about a lot with one of my friends at the gym- the circle of inspiration.

The circle of inspiration is basically the reciprocal way that we encourage each other.  When he and I discuss it, we mostly mean putting in hard workouts, but it can be applied to anything and everyday life.

I work out a lot down here, and have become an endurance athlete.  I don't think anything of logging a 10 mile run on the weekend.  In fact, I look forward to it.  Most people find this crazy.  He finds it inspiring.  He hits the gym every day without fail for a couple of hours.  I am amazed at the discipline and he makes me push myself hard when we're at the gym together.

This is the same friend that has run over 900 days straight, doing a minimum of 4 miles each day.  I told him that a blind triathlete was amazed by that dedication, and that pushed him a little bit harder in his workout.

So those of us who are serious about our health and fitness, no matter where we are on our journey, owe it to ourselves to look for our own circle of inspiration.  It may be on the internet, it may be in real life.

Do you draw on a circle of inspiration?

Reboot!

Ok... I am really bad at blogging! But I'm going to begin publishing these on my news feed, hoping that the public accountability will make me better at it!

Just a quick background about it- I've always been on the higher side of "average" or overweight side.  A little over a year ago I got sick and tired of being sick and tired.  I decided to do something about it.

In 2011, I challenged myself to run 12 road races that year.  I ended up doing the following:

5k: 8
5 miler: 1
10k: 1
20k: 1
Half marathon: 1

I was NEVER a runner, but something called the Disney Princess Half Marathon changed that.  When I first saw it, I immediately wanted to do it, but could not imagine keeping a 16 minutes per mile pace over 13.1 miles.

Then, last July, one of my friends asked me if I would run the Long Island Diva's Half marathon with her, to which I agreed.  My running, which usually consisted of me half assing until about 2 weeks before a race because I was too tired/hungry/cold/busy to do it otherwise.  I stepped up my training because while I knew that I could BS my 5k's, I could NOT BS a half marathon.

Unfortunately, I injured myself during the New Haven 20k Road Race over Labor Day weekend, which pretty much took me out of training for 2 months (pro tip: Doing a half marathon while still recovering from an injury in orthotics that you've never exercised in before means that you end up walking most of it.).

I now am a running fool.  Year to date in 2012, I have completed 7 half marathons (#8 is this weekend), a trail 8k (that ended up being closer to  6 miles, since I got lost during it thanks to my *wonderful* sense of direction), and a 4 miler.  I plan on adding in 2 more half marathons, a Turkey Trot 5k, and my first FULL marathon will be this November in Philadelphia.

I hope to fill this blog with my feelings, thoughts, lessons, tips on running, fitness, and nutrition!

Thanks and join me for the journey!

First!

This is my new blog... chronicling my journey from couch potato to endurance, long-distance, half-marathon runner. =) Lace up and enjoy the trip!