Behold The Turtle

Do you ever stick your neck out? I rarely do. I stick with what’s comfortable.

While athletic (or I like to think of myself this way), I’ve never been a runner. I always played sports that involve running (softball, basketball, football, volleyball), but I never ran just to run. That seemed silly.

Then, at the beginning of 2011, I decided to be silly and start running. I started doing two-minute running intervals mixed with walking. I kept at it, and signed up for a 5K in February of that year. That was all it took. I was hooked on running.

Well, hooked on running short distances. The longer distances scared me. They just seemed so far, so difficult and something I could never do.

But, a friend convinced me to stick my neck out. With lots of urging, I signed up for my first half marathon.

“Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out,” said James Bryant Conant, a former Harvard president. I am the turtle (except I’m a “she,” not a “he”).

Although my first half marathon wasn’t exactly what I wanted it to be, it sparked a desire to keep sticking my neck out.
Since my first half marathon, I’ve run two more and have five more on the schedule.

I’m not the fastest runner by any means (another reason the turtle title works for me). But, no matter the speed, I am a runner.
Running is a constant challenge for me. It’s not easy, but that’s what drives me to keep going and keep getting better at it.

Behold the Turtle chronicles my running training, my new adventures in strength training and all other things I love (like celebrities, baseball and randomness).

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