Dream big! You just might surprise yourself!

Well, people, it’s been a long time since I wrote last about my running.

The iRun Makeover program has been the experience of a lifetime! And that is not something that I say lightly or mean in a frivolous way; it really is a life-changing experience. Let me tell you how.

First off, the training: wow!!  You know, before I started this journey, I had run three days per week for 20 months solid – every week without fail I ran three out of seven days but I could not imagine running for more than that. I thought that three days per week was quite a lot and I was quite impressed with myself for doing that.

Being in this training program changed everything as I quickly progressed to running 4 and then 5 days per week and for a few weeks, I even ran 6 days per week. That in itself was a lesson to me that you can in fact achieve much more than you would have previously thought – all that you have to do it put your mind to it. The only difference between me running 3 days per week and 5 days per week is my thinking that “now I have to do this” and doing it! That’s all! The power of personal motivation and determination!

Also, this experience has given me a small glimpse into what it must be like to be a full-time (professional) athlete (not that I am in any way close to that, of course!) because all that my life has consisted of for the last 4 months is this: get up, have breakfast prescribed by nutritionist for a runner, go to work, work at least 9 hrs per day (and sometimes up to 11 hrs) in a stressful job, go home, change right away, run 10 K as prescribed by Tania Jones (my coach) – no leisurely runs for the fun of it for me! – go home, shower, eat my dinner in the proper portion size of proteins, carbs and fat and make sure I am hydrated enough – watch T.V. or read and go to bed at 10:30 PM as I need at least eight hours of sleep to properly recover from the day’s workout and do it all again the very same way the next day and the next day and the next day….you get the idea.

It’s a very disciplined way of life. In every free moment I find myself thinking about my running progress when I am not running, and then waiting to run the rest of the time. But it’s been very good for my bank account – no shops, no restaurants, no concerts, no movies, no going out with the friends. LOL! That has been my life since the beginning of February 2011.

But the hard work is paying off, happily. As has been documented here in iRun magazine, I ran the Mercedes Benz 10K on Sunday May 8th and ran it in 49 minutes which for a 47 yr old woman is a respectable time. Now, I feel much more confident about my running the Ottawa Marathon on May 29th. Not only do I know that I can do it, but I suspect that I can do it in a good time AND I hope that if the planets align and that everything goes well, that I might actually qualify for…wait for it…Boston!  Yes!  What an audacious and ambitious goal!  Who does this woman think she is?? Only run for two years in total, age 47 years old, never physically active in her “earlier” years, and now she wants to qualify for Boston?? Are you kidding me??

Well, people: that’s the message – that’s why this experience has been life changing. The question that we all should be asking is “WHY NOT?” Indeed, why not? If not me, then who? If not now, when?

Dream big! Take life by the horns! I am just a regular woman who wants to test her running limits and abilities and I started this journey one day about five years ago when I literally could not run for half a kilometre but I started and then I ran a bit more and a bit farther. You just have to have the patience and the discipline and the determination. As the saying goes “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and neither is a runner that is capable of running a marathon or of running Boston.

But YOU can be that person too – IF you want it badly enough AND if you have the proper support network as I absolutely could not have taken on this task if not for the help of Tania Jones, Lauren Jawno and the iRun Makeover program.