One Step at a Time

By Sage

So, two weekends ago my husband and I ran our first half-marathon. It was a wonderful experience, and we plan to do it again next year. Not only was the weather beautiful and the route absolutely stunning, but we felt great! Now if you'd asked me how I felt while I was training for said half-marathon, I would have told you a different story. The training was really hard. Really, really hard. Several times I felt like just calling the whole thing off, but my pride wouldn't let me. The week before the race I was terrified, which was really discouraging because I'm a good runner, and I hated feeling frightened of it. Well, the race, as I mentioned, turned out to be glorious. Why? Because I was prepared; I had slowly increased my distances in small increments over the course of time. Nobody can (or at least nobody should) leap off the couch after lying there without moving for years and decide to run a marathon (or even a 5K) the next day. I was telling my friend about how wonderful our run was, and she said something to the effect of, "Well, I can't even run around the block, so I'm impressed." My answer to that is: "Baloney." If she trained for it, took her time, and took it a step at a time, she could run. Fitness is just a decision, and that's the truth. Anyone can do it.

Eight years ago, when my husband and I first decided to take up jogging, we were pathetic. No, really! I'm so glad it was early and dark outside, because I was never so humiliated as I was when we made our first attempt and we couldn't run half a block without wheezing, leaning over, grabbing our knees and desperately trying not to throw up. But every day we went out and we made ourselves go just a few steps further, and I really do mean just a few steps. "Today, let's just make it to the next house," we'd say. And we did it. The day that we first ran our chosen 3 mile loop without stopping, we felt like the Rocky theme song should have been playing! It took us many, many weeks. We didn't give up, and we got there. From that point until two weekends ago, we never ran more than 6 miles at a stretch, and usually we kept it around 3 or 4. But we approached training for a 13.1 mile run the same way we had approached our first run: a step at a time.

I'm not saying you have to run. Some people don't enjoy it at all. But do something! Set a goal, and realize that even if it sounds far-fetched, you can do it... one step at a time!