My journey to running a half marathon

13.1

Go on a 3 mile run...are you KIDDING ME!?

My earliest memory of running a long distance was when I made the varsity field hockey team as a sophomore in high school. My teammates and I never knew what day the long runs were on, I am not sure why our coaches decided to surprise us...maybe because we would all go home sick those days if we knew.

We had to run from Dulaney High School, up the dreaded hill to a near by neighborhood, wind around through the streets and then come back down the hill, circle the high school, and end at the hockey field with anyone who was ahead of us cheering us on. Before the run - every single time - just as the "girls, take off your cleats and shinguards, we are going to go for a run before practice" left the lips of my coach I would get an anxious, uneasy feeling. I HATED long distance runs. One mile was the limit, anything more and you could forget about it.

So, we were off. There were always a couple girls on my team who ran indoor track during the winter and spring seasons who would lead the pack. Since they didn't have to do as much running at practice, the goalies were usually bringing up the rear. One day I remember running with one of my teammates, Maggie, who had run track the winter before. She told me "after running for Coach Boyle, I have learned to run through ANYTHING." For some reason...that stuck with me. No matter how bad her cramps were, or how badly she wanted to stop...she just kept running. She told me, "just keep your feet moving."

From that point on I got better at the distance runs. When my coach would tell us to put on our tennis shoes I would still get the anxious feeling and it would take a LOT of mental self talk trying to calm myself down. That never really went away. But, the feeling of accomplishment and pride I felt after completing the three miles never went away either. And it still hasn't today.

My first Division I preseason....

Moments before my family left LHU on that hot summer day I realized exactly what was happening. They were dropping me off in a foreign town...and I didn't know a single person. Yup, I definitely cried. But, I knew I loved field hockey so I unpacked my Gatorade, hockey stick, shinguards, mouthguards, shorts and tank tops and moved into my tiny dorm room. About an hour later I reported to the field house to meet all of my new teammates and to get ready for our first practice under the lights.

All summer long I was training and running. I tried to stick to the training manual that was sent to me in May. At 7am, the day after I got to LHU, we had our running test. It was pretty simple...6 laps in under 12 minutes. There were two groups and I wanted to get it over with first. After about a mile I got nervous and stopped. I didn't know what was wrong but I couldn't control my breathing and I couldn't keep running. I was a nervous freshman. But, I knew I could do it so I went with the second group to try to make the time. I got to lap 5 and I stopped. I couldn't breathe. Absolutely mortified, I couldn't believe I had failed the running test. Luckily, I wasn't the only one. I was told that I would have to complete the test before I was able to travel with the team or play in a game. So, I had to learn to run confidently.

Since I didn't have a car, I decided to run everywhere. One of my teammates and I decided to go tanning at the local laundromat (yea, I know it's not healthy...I was a freshman). The laundromat was about a mile and a half away (one way) and we went about every other day. There was also a running path next the the Susquehanna River that was next to our campus. After our last practice, and a couple classes worth of homework I would head out to the path and de-stress (in addition to running to the laundromat). Needless to say, the next time I attempted the run it was a success.

After all the running to the laundromat, and along the river I started to realize how good it felt to run. At that point I was not only running to make the time, but the runs would help me clear my mind and relieve stress. I had one of those tiny iPod shuffles at the time and I would load it with some of my favorite music and just run...

This became more and more of a habit for me. I was running almost everyday...even after our regular practices. It didn't matter if it was hot, cold, light or dark I would put in my iPod and go. This continued throughout my four years of college.

Resumes, Cover letters, Interviews...


I graduated college that May and I was offered as position as a Center Director for Appalachia Service Project for the summer. After getting home from a summer I had (kind of) lost my passion for running. I still liked the endorphins, but I didn't really have a reason to run anymore. I didn't have the convenient path along the river, I didn't have any running tests to make and I didn't have my roommate who was also a runner. I would run a loop around my neighborhood in Baltimore when I would get stressed...which was quite often because I was going through the process of applying for jobs. But, the loop around the neighborhood was just one mile. It relieved a little stress, but I never got the awesome sense of accomplishment I used to get in college after a good five mile run.

Then, another stressful moment in my life happened and I began to feel lost. I was at home without a job, and nothing seemed to be going my way. That was until my friends Kara and Angie asked me if I wanted to go on a six mile run with them one day. SIX? I had only been doing the one around my neighborhood! But, remembering the feelings I used to get after long runs, I thought I would try it. Kara and Angie would run ahead, then run back to me so I could catch up. I completed the six miles and felt amazing.

Over the next couple weeks I went for a nine mile run and an eleven mile run...much further than I had ever run at Lock Haven. I was feeling alive, and accomplished after every increase in milage. Kara and Angie told me they were training for the Baltimore Half Marathon and that I should do it with them.

Half marathon? Well, I had run 11 miles...why couldn't I run two more? Unfortunately the half marathon had been sold out. I thought I was out of luck until one of my friends told me to check on Craigslist. Sure enough I found someone that couldn't run and I bought their bib.


The Baltimore Half Marathon


Kara, Angie and I went to the Expo at Ravens Stadium to pick up our race packets and race numbers. I had never seen so many people so enthusiastic about running! There were venders from every running store around! We got to sample power bars, look at awesome running clothes, and we even got temporary tattoos with mile splits to keep us on pace for a certain time - it was awesome!

Then, just a couple weeks after I had started to train with Angie and Kara we arrived at Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles, to the starting line. There is something absolutely amazing about being around a bunch of other people who share the same passion and have put in the same long grueling miles that you have  and to celebrate your accomplishments together. I heard this at my second half marathon in Nashville, TN, the guy who was about to shoot the gun referred to the half marathon we were about to run as the icing on the cake. He said that we had already won the race becuase we had put in the time and the energy in training day after day. And it was true! I was not the easiest path to this point standing at the start line, but it was worth it.

After all the sweat, long runs, blisters, ice baths, and final water stations I crossed the finish line of my first half marathon. It was one of the best feelings of my life. Talking about a runner's high - they exist!


My fourth half marathon...

Next Saturday I will be running my fourth half marathon. I am not sure what I would do if I never failed the running test in college. If I had never realized how much of a positive effect running can have in my life. It helps me clear my mind, relax, and feel good about myself.

Whenever I tell someone that I am going to run a half marathon I usually get one of two responses:

"Yea, I did the blah blah blah half and it was awesome!"

or

"OMG! I could NEVER do a half marathon!!"

...if the second person only knew...


So, get up and start today! Walk a half mile. Then walk a mile. Then run a half mile, then run a mile. I promise you that with the right attitude you WILL run a half marathon...no matter how much you HATE running :)

More on running later!

MISS ya LOVE ya MEG

The running path along the Susquehanna

Kara, Angie, and Me after the Baltimore Half Marathon in 2010

County Music Marathon & 1/2 are put on by the Rock n Roll series and Brooks. 

They are the bet races ever! Especially the one in Nashville!

To give everyone an idea of what kind of day it has been...I just got done "recording" a 20 minute webinar teaching our summer staffers how to use a project planning program that one of my co workers made. I thought I did a great job...until I went to watch it. I forgot to turn on my mic.

So, now I am trying to work up the motivation to go running. In exactly 10 days (whoa - I didnt realize it was that close literally until I typed it) Jimmy will be flying down from Baltimore to run the Nashville Half Marathon with me! This is going to be Jimmy's first time to Nashville and I am MORE than excited to be his tour guide.

It is kind of funny to think about how I live three (almost) completely different lives. This is due to the fact that I took a lot of random chances...which is kind of funny becuase I am not exactly the random chance kind of person. Usually I carefully calcuate all of the risks in a decision and expect the worst...so when anything better than the worst happens, it was a success!

The first random decision I made was to attend Lock Haven University. I had never even heard of the Pennsylvania State School until I attended a field hockey camp the summer before my junior year of high school. When the coach told me she wanted me on her team I had to decide between playing a Divison I sport at a small school, or going to a big school down south. Because I loved playing field hockey I decided to go to the little school in the Appalachian Mountains. Since I had never heard of it, my friends and classmates in high school definitely had never heard of it either. It didnt help to have a high school right around the corner named Loch Raven. Yea, there were jokes.

During the spring of my sophomore year of college I realized that I needed a summer job...and I didnt want to work the same 7-3:30 job I had worked the two summers and winters before. That's when I thought about the possibility of applying for ASP summer staff. I headed to a Staff Applicant Weekend in Philly, PA...once again all by myself. I met some amazing people, and to this day, I have no idea how I got hired.

So, I have my hometown life in Balitmore, Maryland. I have my athletic college life in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. And, I have my construction ASP life in Johnson City, Tennessee. My hockey teammates have never seen me hit a nail, and my ASP freinds have never seen me hit a ball. It is a rare occasion when my different lives will collide, but it is always a beautiful and interesting experience.

I am so excited for Jimmy to visit becuase he rarely gets to see me live in my ASP environment. He did get to come up to Lock Haven and got hang out with my field hockey teammates...but he hasnt gotten the full Tennessean experience yet. I cant WAIT!

Time to update my iPod and find my running shoes!

MISS ya LOVE ya MEG.

If you ask any ASP summer staffer what kind of emotions they feel the night before they travel to "The Porch" in Jonesville, VA I don't think I would be going out in a limb guessing that you will get a response similar to that of a five year old the night before they go to Disney World. There is something magical about the Appalachian Mountain Range that will steal the breath from any staffer. As a staffer gets closer and closer to Jonesville, you would think that they would feel further and further away from home...but for many it is the complete opposite. Coming to the mountains, for most staffers, is like coming home. They are leaving their lives that are already overflowing with responsibility only to take on more than any 19/20/21 year old should ever be given. To someone who hasn't experienced ASP I know this may seem a little backwards. Doesn't every college student look forward to a summer of relaxing? A summer of no responsibility except putting on suntan lotion before heading to the beach? 

But, before I take the opportunity to give my two cents about how amazing the summer staff experience is, I want to touch on something that happened to me today. All summer staffers and volunteers have experienced the Disney-like majestic existence of the Appalachian Mountains. The sheer size of the mountains is humbling. When driving in a valley in West Virginia the mountains are so big and so encompassing you could almost swear they are hugging you...and they definitely provide that kind of comfort. 

When I first arrived in Johnson City, Tennessee in January of 2011 to fulfill the position of Program Manager I was taken aback by the lack of kudzu, and big, dominant mountains. Instead of homes that were nestled back in the hollers, they were exposed by the lack of leaves on the trees that once hid them. The mountains that had once given me the goosebumps were brown, and...quite honestly boring! (for lack of better wording) I realized that the fantasy world that I had been working in for the past three summers is actually what my life always returned to after the summer...a reality. 

During the fall the Appalachian Mountain Range is like anything else in nature. It turns extreme pretty colors, then the leaves fall off the trees and everything seems to turn brown for the winter. It is actually quite depressing. Another absolutely shocking (and extremely obvious) reality that I faced is that it gets cold...very cold in Appalachia in the wintertime. All those insulation projects that seemed unnecessary in the summertime, and the family members that told me their windows were drafty...they were all suddenly too real to me. My (acquired) family members were freezing and I should have thought twice about sealing their home for the winter. I was feeling guilty. 

Now, I have the power redeem myself...a little. I can tell my Center Directors that yes, insulation is one of the BEST projects you can do for a family. Yes, it is expensive and yes, it will hit your budget hard. But, it will have benefits beyond measure for the families. 

So, back to what I experienced today. As I traveled my usual route out west on I40 I got my first glimpse of the season of the fully bloomed green mountains. I have been in Appalachia for six years now (including the four that I spent in the northern Appalachians in Lock Haven, PA) and I have not felt as excited to see the mountains at their full bloom as I did today. Riding through Oak Ridge TN to Sunbright TN to Winfield TN the scenery was amazing. I am not sure how else to describe it (hint: come visit and see for yourself). 

The magic is back. Although I had to work today, it definitely didn't feel like it. I took a mental picture with every turn I made in this wonderful area of the country. I would have taken a picture but it just wouldn't have done justice for the beauty that I get to live in everyday. 

Come home to the mountains. 

MISS ya LOVE ya MEG.

Country song of the day: Wide Open Spaces by the Dixie Chicks. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dom7VlltBUc

Hello to EVERYONE! Hello to my family in Baltimore, to my friends (and alums) in Lock Haven, and to my fellows in service (ASP friends).

Over the past 18 months I have been trying to keep you all updated on my Appalachian Adventure through Facebook albums. First there was the "Bucket List", then the "Bucket List II" and now I have been doing the picture-a-day thing with the album "Smelling Roses." This was a fun way to keep everyone updated, but I have realized its not a very effective way to keep some of my biggest fans clued in on what I've been doing since I packed up my life and took the Honda down to Tennessee. Yea, that's you Mom and Dad!

I am going to try to keep up with this blog so my family and friends from all over the country can follow in my Toms (shoes) from my office in Johnson City all the way to Morgan, Scott, Anderson, Cocke and Sevier Counties in Tennessee. Then, take Ellie (my work vehicle) on the highway up to Breathitt, Morgan, Magoffin and Lawrence Counties in Kentucky. From time to time you will follow me over to Nasvhille, Tennessee for some Honky Tonk kind of fun! So, put on your cowboy hats, your cowboy boots, and crank some Taylor Swift on your iPod because you're in for a Tennessee Appalachian Adventure with yours truly.

Some pump up songs to listen to before, after, or to have on in the background while reading my blog could/should be:

Dirt Road Anthem - Jason Aldean
Baggage Claim - Miranda Lambert
Wagon Wheel - O.C.M.S
*anything by The Zac Brown Band
*anything by Eric Church

That's a good start for my yankees up north...I will be adding more throughout the blog.

The best possible way to read this blog is to buy a rocking chair, brew up some sweet iced tea, and go front porch sittin'. It's all about the slow pace of life down here and appreciating the absolutely gorgeous earth that God has made for us. Take some time to sit back, relax, and join in on my adventure.

4.16.07 Live for 32.

MISS ya LOVE ya MEG.