My Running

Growing up I was not a runner.  I would hesitate to even call myself any type of athletic.  I spent over a decade in the dance studio and I went through periods of forcing myself to run, usually fueled by a desire to burn as many calories as possible in the throes of my eating disorder.  I raced a few times in middle school and the beginning of high school because I had friends who were into it.

I stopped running all together after my last round of residential treatment for anorexia (almost 4 years ago now).  I had picked dance and yoga back up but was hesitant to try running for a while because I felt supremely out of shape (this was confirmed when I picked it back up again).  I struggled to get into a regular routine with dance, mostly due to a rough work schedule and limited funds to spend on classes.  I picked up running becausecause it was convenient.

My inaugural race was the Oakland Running Festival 5K.  I highly
recommend this race to any runners willing to go to the Bay Area
to race (there's a 5K, half and full marathons and a relay).  This is
one of the most well put on races I've been to and an awesome way to see
Oakland.  I plan on running the half full next year.

I signed up to run a short (5k) race with my work and became hooked.  Running is fun alone, but the energy/adrenaline rush at a race completely run me over.  I ran a few more 5k's before I decided I hate 5k's.  I registered for the first half of the SF Marathon at the expo for the Oakland Running Festival. When I ran the Play Ball 5k (go A's), there was a discount for registration for the See Jane Run Half  which seemed like a good training run (flat course and a small field compared to serious hills and a huge field in SF).  

Unfortunately I sustained a pretty gnarly peroneal injury and lost almost 2 months of training time.  I finished See Jane Run (with a whopping 6 weeks of training it wasn't necessarily pretty...).  In the month between the 2 races I focused on hill work and took 3 minutes off my time at the SFM (which was indeed HILLY and CROWDED).  Despite my less than stellar performance at each race, I'm still smitten with this sport.  Now that I am injury free (fingers crossed), I plan on training to actually race at a half marathon in the fall and finish my first full next spring.