The Race I Became a *Real* Runner Part I

Yes, I know if you run you are a real runner. I do not deny this, in fact I tell people this all the time. This is simply my own experience and a change in the way I perceived myself.
 

 

The Disney Princess Half Marathon 2011 was my first half marathon and first race ever.  I pre-trained and trained for it for a little over a year. I took it very slow and just focused on getting the mileage in. I was simply trying to see if I could in fact do it. I had a secret goal of finishing in under 3 and I came in at 2:57 using Jeff Galloway’s run/walk/run method.

I finished my first Half Marathon! !	Me, Alicia, Patty and Allison all first time half finishers!!

With my first half marathon behind me I felt confident in the distance and tried to focus and getting faster. My second Half was the inaugural Tinker Bell Half Marathon in January 2012. My sister and I ran it together and even though we struggled with our training toward the end we PRd at 2:36. This is actually my current PR so it should be when I became a real runner, but for some reason it wasn’t. I was still just playing around and trying to be a runner. My training between Tinker Bell and Princess was lacking to say the least. I got through the PHM just fine, but honestly the course has never been that good to me. I was just there to get my Coast to Coast medal and meet up with some awesome April 05 moms again!

My sister and me after Tinker Bell	Kim, Alicia, Patty and me after PHM

I had high hopes for this year’s Tinker Bell, but given some big changes in my life my training did not go as planned, and a blown PR put me in a bad mood. My next race brought me back where it all started, the PHM. The run itself did not go great (race recap coming soon), but being able to say I completed 5 half marathons caused something inside of me to click and just like that I saw myself as a *real* runner. I mean a fake runner would never do 5 half marathons, right? 


What was your “clicking” moment? When did you first see yourself as a runner?