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| With my roommate Elise, before our first skydiving adventure |
Not enough for you? I guess I should write something personal here so you can identify with my story. That's what draws you in and makes this worth reading I suppose.
My name is Kate and this blog is about my journey from couch to Boston Marathon.
My college education, like most people's, covered the major academic subjects: All-nighters, take-out, and drinking. (In fact, I did a four-month intensive study of the latter in Dublin) By the time I graduated and started my first job I was ready to stop destroying myself and actually do something healthy. Thus, I picked up running.
I started my journey with the Couch to 5K running program on coolrunning.com in October 2009. I went from barely being able to run more than 3 minutes at a stretch to being able to run a full 5K without stopping. Running coupled with actually eating healthy (you know, fruits and veggies as opposed to wings and Papa John's) got me into better shape than I had been in probably 10+ years.
Then, I needed another goal. I took a flight out of Logan Airport for work the day after the 2010 Boston Marathon and saw half of my flight rocking the official BAA Marathon track jacket. I got this crazy idea that in a year that could be me. So I set a goal to do a half marathon within 6 months and then apply to run Boston the following April. On September 25th I successfully finished the Wicked Half Marathon in Salem, MA with a rather lackluster time of 2:33:57 or an 11:43 pace. Considering my training dropped off towards the end and it was a blistering 70+ degrees on race day, I was happy to just be able to drag myself across the finish line.
I decided that when I attempted to run the 2011 Boston Marathon I would need an actual support team to keep me motivated, make sure I wasn't screwing things up, and provide some sort of help in case I got injured. My brother ran the Rock n' Roll San Diego Marathon in June 2010 with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team In Training and after attending an info session I found that they would be the perfect choice for me. They provided a full training program complete with coaches, group runs, and a team atmosphere and I actually have a personal connection to leukemia as my aunt lost her battle to the disease on September 13, 1994.
So far the experience has been amazing and I hope you enjoy following my journey out to Hopkinton, Mass to get to the starting line of the 2011 Boston Marathon.
My college education, like most people's, covered the major academic subjects: All-nighters, take-out, and drinking. (In fact, I did a four-month intensive study of the latter in Dublin) By the time I graduated and started my first job I was ready to stop destroying myself and actually do something healthy. Thus, I picked up running.
I started my journey with the Couch to 5K running program on coolrunning.com in October 2009. I went from barely being able to run more than 3 minutes at a stretch to being able to run a full 5K without stopping. Running coupled with actually eating healthy (you know, fruits and veggies as opposed to wings and Papa John's) got me into better shape than I had been in probably 10+ years.
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| After the Wicked Half Marathon with my former roommate Courtney |
Then, I needed another goal. I took a flight out of Logan Airport for work the day after the 2010 Boston Marathon and saw half of my flight rocking the official BAA Marathon track jacket. I got this crazy idea that in a year that could be me. So I set a goal to do a half marathon within 6 months and then apply to run Boston the following April. On September 25th I successfully finished the Wicked Half Marathon in Salem, MA with a rather lackluster time of 2:33:57 or an 11:43 pace. Considering my training dropped off towards the end and it was a blistering 70+ degrees on race day, I was happy to just be able to drag myself across the finish line.
I decided that when I attempted to run the 2011 Boston Marathon I would need an actual support team to keep me motivated, make sure I wasn't screwing things up, and provide some sort of help in case I got injured. My brother ran the Rock n' Roll San Diego Marathon in June 2010 with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team In Training and after attending an info session I found that they would be the perfect choice for me. They provided a full training program complete with coaches, group runs, and a team atmosphere and I actually have a personal connection to leukemia as my aunt lost her battle to the disease on September 13, 1994.
So far the experience has been amazing and I hope you enjoy following my journey out to Hopkinton, Mass to get to the starting line of the 2011 Boston Marathon.
