Hi! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Victoria, and I am a twenty-something living in Washington, D.C. I have been learning to run for less than a year now. Last June I signed up for my first race (a September 5-miler), but by July, I was experiencing deep, tender pain in my shin. I had transformed into an injured runner before I’d even crossed my first finish line.
If the early shin pain wasn’t already an indicator to you – I’d never been a runner before training to complete that 5-miler. In fact, I dreaded the 1-mile fitness test in gym class, and I don’t think I had ever run 2 miles without stopping to walk. I could count how many times I’d done that with a mile on one hand. In college I ran every once and again on the treadmill for fitness, and I would feel encouraged to pick it up more permanently, but it never took off. I always gave up. What was the point? (There were plenty of other machines and classes I hated less if sweating was what I wanted). And yet, as I have seen time and time again in other runner’s story’s — something finally clicked. I wanted to try again. This time, I stuck.
I credit that first injury for keeping me motivated. I wanted to finish what I started. In fact, I couldn’t stop dreaming up more races, new distances. I caught the bug. I sought a running coach last fall and learned about foot strike and strengthening exercises. I ran hard drills on the National Mall until my lungs burned, and I biked home exhausted. I got better, and then the pain returned. I got better, and then the pain returned again. (This is where the ice packs came in). Finally (plenty of time-off running later), and I started 2015 ready to begin again. Smarter. Things were/are looking up.
And here I am. I spent a lot of time gaining inspiration from other running bloggers and decided it was time to throw something myself into that little corner of the internet world. Let’s do this.
