I started running not too long ago— 8 months ago to be exact, and I was in your shoes. I never liked running and I never played sports for endurance. In swimming, I always swam the 100m freestyle; in basketball, all I always sprinted down the court. Running for distance was never my element.

Earlier this year, my friend texts me urging me to sign up for the Brooklyn Half Marathon 2019. I did, and my running journey began! I was excited, but mainly really intimidated by the idea of running 13.1 miles. I had never even run a 5k, not to mention a half. I trained and ran 3x a week for 10 weeks until a week before race day.

I was crushing the first 7 miles. By mile 9-10 though… game over. I started feeling exhausted, and the heat shining down the open Ocean Parkway boulevard did not help. I was gassed out and I essentially had to hobble run to the finish. 13.1 miles might have been too much for my 10 week training window.

What I am proud of

I was truly happy to check “run half marathon” off my bucket list, but I still wish I performed better in the end. On the flip side— sometimes I get so caught up on my last two miles, I forget that my 10 weeks of training made my first 7 miles feel like a breeze! There was a point earlier this year when I was intimidated by running 3 miles! I made significant progress on my standards, and that’s all that matter.

Where I’m at now

Two days after the race and somewhat recovered, I confirmed to myself, “running is actually fun. I’m signing up for more races.”

And I did. I signed up for the Queens 10K, 5 Mile Pride Run, the Bronx 10 mile, and Staten Island Half Marathon. I continued to consistently run and began to enjoy the workouts because I no longer feel exhausted 3 miles in my workout!

My next race is the Staten Island Half Marathon in two weeks. I’m hoping I average under a 9:30 pace, 🤞, I’ll keep you posted 🏃🏻‍♂️.

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