Behind the scenes – More about yours truly

Welcome to a peek behind the curtains

So I’ve been working on this new thing for about 3 weeks now and I thought I might give you a little more intro. Tell you a little bit more about my story and why I’m here.

I started running about 6 years ago I think it was, maybe a little bit longer than that, it’s kind of hard for me to remember. I was at my highest weight I have been ever and felt like I couldn’t keep going down this road. I needed to make a change.  I was fortunate enough to be able to borrow a treadmill and you guys, I got on the DREADMILL!

I don’t really remember that I had a plan that I followed or any sense of what I was doing. I just remember getting on the treadmill and walking. I think I would walk for 15 minutes or 20 minutes with a goal to get up to 30. From there, I began adding some running. I moved things outdoors and going down to our local high school red light to park and run. This was a very popular walking/running strip. Being outdoors was so much better! It was so awesome to get my first 12 minute mile! That meant a lot to me.  At this point, I really couldn’t tell you how long I’ve been working on it but it was a big milestone for me. I just kept at it and got to the point where I wasn’t really pushing for time. I generally don’t push for time or feel the need to push for time.

I noticed that with my distance my speed seemed to pick up. The longer I was on my feet, the faster I became and I lost like 25 lbs from running! It was so awesome! Some of my friends and family were like “Oh, you look great” and of course my mom was like “You’re too thin.” FYI – I wasn’t too thin, haha. Is there even such a thing? Well yeah, there kind of is but that’s a story for another time, but I felt really good and excited because I was down to my weight I was back in college. Which of course I can remember at the time in college I was like “Holy cow!” whenever I stepped on the scale. Oh, those days…lol.

Medal from first ever Half. Marine Corp Half – Oct 2012

Well, you know, but it was pretty good and my body was probably in the best shape it’s ever been and I was almost  middle-aged!  I got excited. I built on my momentum and did my first half-marathon in October of 2012. This was shortly after doing my first 5k in March earlier that year.  It was tough but it was exciting and it was another milestone.

Then like anything else, life started getting in the way, throwing some curve balls and I started backsliding. My relationship with running has been kind of on-again, off-again since then. I’ve done a few events here and there. Running has always seemed to be my go-to for all the reasons that I explained back in this post but it’s simply because I don’t need anything special.  I can just throw on my shoes and go out the door. Of course, I personally enjoy music so I’ve got to have my head phones and my running band for my phone but that’s pretty much it. And if it means getting out and running versus going to the gym where I struggle with gym intimidation or being self-conscious (which is a really big thing for me) give me the outdoors. I don’t feel all of that when I’m outside running and actually having people pass me on the road gives me a little spur of ‘get your butt up and run. don’t walk, so that people can see you running’. It’s a little vain, yes, but it works for me, lol.

Anyway I’m here because if I can do this I would say just about anybody can do this. I’m not a track star. I’m not a superstar. I’m not even a Boston Marathon wanna-be. I’m just a regular gal who has a family and a job and trying to keep some sense of a social life and of course trying to fit in being healthy.  I’m not super fast and not super fit (I like food, ok). I just do it because there’s so many benefits that come from living a healthy lifestyle. This is my way of trying to do that for myself and for my family. And hopefully I can be an encouragement to you as someone who is just trying to get it done; to just be out there doing it rather than running for speed or distance. And, maybe not feeling that intimidation that sometimes comes from looking at those wonderful, fabulous role models that run sub 9 miles and look like runway models. It’s just me; your average everyday kind of gal.

So here I am sharing my story. Oh, I discovered I enjoy mud runs but I tend to stick to the fun runs. I’m still intimidated by the bigger named OCR courses. Maybe one day, but if not, that’s ok too.  I’m super excited about the race I have tomorrow.  I don’t run a lot of races because frankly I’m not really motivated by the bling although it is really kind of cool and I don’t really like paying for them! There I said it, haha.  I do think that I’m going to start volunteering for races so that I can get the encouragement from running families in real life. I have a running family online that I’ve been a part of since January and they are super great folks at encouraging and motivating and supporting. I get to  post all my running stats without being worried about irritating most of my Facebook family!

Most recent half – Marine Corp Oct 17

I know this seems like maybe a little bit of a long post but you guys I just felt like this is what I have to offer someone. A person who is just like you; who hopefully can be the someone who you can relate to and still be encouraged and motivated by! Thanks for joining me and I look forward to our running adventures and this thing we call life.

I hope that you’ll stick around! I’m sure there will be some changes to the way this blog / website grows and develops and I’m looking forward to seeing where it takes us.

The name Taking Fitness on the Run really comes from the idea that you can work out anywhere. For me, it’s primarily running, but I’m also trying to work in some cross training. Fitness doesn’t have to take place in a gym. You can do it on vacation, you can do it at your friend’s, or at home. You know gyms are great. They have all the equipment that you need there. They have group classes. You can go inside out of the weather; but for me the biggest deterrent is the cost and the intimidation factor and the ability to totally dismiss the gym because you just don’t feel like getting in the car and driving there.  I feel like working where you are takes away a lot of those obstacles.

Also, you most likely will never find intervals, hill repeats or speed training in my posts because that’s really just not who I am and if that’s something that you can relate to then I hope you’ll stick around. If that’s something that you’re looking for then that is super awesome and go you! I’m sure there are many others out there that can help you find that encouragement that you need for your goals! And so my goal here is to share running things because that’s kind of who I am, along with a mix of other types of workouts and just share things that as a new runner or a casual runner that are interesting and helpful to you!

Thank you for taking a peek behind the curtains.  I’m looking forward to what the future holds! I would love to hear some of your running and/or fitness goals.  How can I be an encouragement to you?

Go. Run. Fitness anywhere – Jen