I've been an active(ish) person most of my adult life. It started when I joined the US Army. Before that I never really worked out or did much outside of what was required for some of the programs that I was involved in while in school. Boot camp got me started, and then active duty pushed me farther into being physically fit. After I got out I told everyone that if they saw me running again that I would be getting chased by something/someone and be unarmed. I still hiked and backpacked some, but never really did much more than that for about 4 years, and that was sporadic at best. Then it got to be a lot more regular and I threw in some climbing and a few other outdoor activities but that fell of and became even more sporadic than before.
Fast forward to 2010. I began to notice that I got winded easier, my strength was still there but not as good as it had been before. That year the first annual Athens Half Marathon was announced to be held in October. I decided that I would run it. I began my training in late March and went hard right out of the chute, stupid. I ended up with IT band syndrome and ended up sitting out for a few weeks. My longest training run was about 8 miles due to this, so I gutted out the last part of it and still fought the left IT band for the last 4.5-5 miles. After the race I took a couple of months off and only trained at low intensity for a while after that. Then I decided that November 2011 I would run the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in Savannah, GA. I learn my lessons the hard way and ended up doing the same thing again, and again I ended up with IT band syndrome, this time worse. I went to the orthopedist and ended up in physical therapy for a bit. Due to the set back, my longest training run was 13 miles. Again I gutted out the last portion of the race. At mile 19.5 my right IT band decided that the left wasn't going to have all the fun torturing me. I walked the last 6.2 miles due to pain, but I finished.
I am a bull-headed person and refuse to let a 4:54:36 be my best and only marathon time. There will be one next fall that I will redeem myself with. I have also set a few personal goals. I WILL become a valid competitor in endurance sports, and I WILL complete at least one full Ironman race before I turn 40 in just over 6 years.
This blog will be my journal on that journey. Hopefully my trials and errors along the way will help those of you who follow this to not make the same mistakes. If you follow it, I hope it will inspire you to become a better you, because I do believe that with better physical fitness comes better mental fitness.
