I’m looking forward to a great fun run this evening with the wonderful Ashley from Culinary Wannabee. She invited Bo and I to join she and her friends in the NYRR Young Professional’s Committee and Team for Kids Fun Run and Happy Hour. This should be a great opportunity for us to meet some fellow runners and enjoy the park on a weeknight. It’s rare that either of us workout in the evening so tonight should be a nice change. In NYC alone, there are 8 different group runs today to honor National Running Day!

Today’s events have made me realize how much my life has changed over the last few years. I only started running four years ago. Four years ago I weighed 190 lbs and had never been able to run for more than a minute or two in my life. I was always that kid who avoided the mile run test like the plague and blamed my poor athletic endurance on exercise enduced asthma. Don’t get me wrong, i’m sure many people suffer from this, but I now know that I was not one of them. I was just lazy and overweight. The summer before my senior year of college I decided I wanted to change things. Per my mom’s suggestion, I left my ego at the door and joined my first WW meeting while I was an intern in Philadelphia. After my first meeting the leader suggested that I start by not only tracking my food but also moving more. I was in shock. Who was she to tell me I needed to move more? For over a year I had been waking up bright and early to workout at the gym. But, back then, workout meant 30 minutes on the elliptical and nothing else. Clearly that plan wasn’t working. I decided right then that I wanted to be a runner. I’d always envied my other friends who participated in 5k and then proceeded to sport their shirts around campus.

Coincidentally, as I look back at my WW book and journals, I realized that four years ago yesterday I stepped on the treadmill ready to run. I started by running for 30 seconds and walking for 30 minutes. The next day I ran for 1 minute and walked for 29. I kept with this until I could run at 5.0 for 30 minutes. I was so proud when that day came! I was finally becoming a runner, or maybe I should have more properly call myself a jogger. Regardless, I loved the feeling and the pride that accompanied my new found elliptical replacement.

Over the course of this week i’ll continue my running story and hopefully news about my next running goal. Bo and I have both signed up for the 2009 ING NYC Marathon lottery and find out TOMORROW if we received bib numbers! I’m so nervous and excited!

I hope you have a great day and use today as your inspiration to baby step your way to jogging. One minute of running is headway in the right direction. If you need, use Missy for inspiration as she is starting down the path of becoming a runner and is doing a great job!