Training for a Half...Again

Well, the time has come! It is officially swim suit season and I am a little more than officially un-pregnant, so it is time to get my booty back into gear. I have never been one to willingly work out, and I'm definitely not the type of person who would ever be caught saying, "I love to run!" But exercise is a necessary evil that is becoming just a little more necessary and a lot more evil as my metabolism is running to a halt.

I always hated it when teachers would say, "kids just think they are invincible." I always knew I was going to die one day and I always knew that I could die at any moment. However, one thing I did not predict was that I would actually have to work hard to keep my weight down. I've never been super skinny, but I figured that was because I didn't work hard at it. I thought if I stopped eating cookies then I'd be a lot thinner. Now I'm realizing how much work staying fit can be.

Baby weight is the worst, and not only because you have to watch what you eat and exercise regularly. The worst thing about it is that you have to break all these horrible habits you made when you were prego.

Like the ice cream. Every. Night.

I really tried to exercise with this last baby, but holy Hannah, it is SO hard to work out when you are so exhausted that you fall asleep right when you hit the pillow. (Typically it takes me at least half an hour to wind down and fall asleep.) Those days are gone. I don't even remember the last time I watched a movie from beginning to end. I'm becoming my mother! (Not a bad thing; love you, mom!)

Anyway, my sister, Jenn (who wrote this excellent guide to marathon running) has a goal to run a marathon between having babies. I have absolutely no desire to ever run a marathon in my life, but I have done two half marathons with her so that is my goal: to run a half marathon between my kids. I did both of my half marathons in the first trimester of my babies so hopefully that pattern doesn't continue. I must be more fertile when I work out!

So for all my readers, here is an invitation to run with me. Not just because it's healthy, but because it's freaking cool to nonchalantly say, "Yeah, I ran a touch over 13 miles before. No big deal." (but it really is a pretty big deal)

I started last Monday, following this schedule and I've used Hal Higdon for both my other runs.

I will say this: training is so so so so so so SOOOOO important!

My first half marathon, I was inconsistent with training and only made it to the 7 mile long run, which is about 3 weeks short of the full training. That run, no joke, hurt worse than child birth (keep in mind, I'm an epidural girl). And it certainly was harder to recover from than child birth.

My second race, on the other hand, went great. I was so scared from my previous bad experience that I never missed a running day. And it paid off! I didn't even have to recover from it.

Me, my mom, and sister after my second half marathon. See how I'm smiling? That is because I trained! After the first one, my husband had to carry me to the car. 

So if you happen upon this blog, please run with me. Because being healthy is pretty great. And mostly misery loves company.