Category Archives: Personal

05.15.13
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I’m officially nuts.

Yesterday I was reading some running blogs and articles, as I normally do. I saw something mentioned about the Walt Disney World marathon, and I thought to myself, “Well, if you were going to run a marathon, seems like that would be a good place to do it.” It involves 26.2 miles of running through all four parks and more on the Disney resort. I looked up the website, out of sheer curiosity, to see if they had the course map.

MarathonWeb01Source: RunDisney

And then I signed up for the half marathon.

I knew I wouldn’t possibly be ready for the full thing, and the 10k was already sold out. The half marathon was 99% full (and two hours after I signed up, it was sold out as well). So I bit the bullet. Apparently I will be running a half in January. (Although 13.1 miles filled with princesses and characters and running through castles can’t be too bad, right?)

I realize that I can barely run a 5k. And a half marathon is over four times as long. But eight months seems like plenty of time to train. The Galloway training plan listed on Disney’s site shows a 19 week training plan, so as soon as I finish my 10k training (I’m on week seven out of fourteen), I’ll get started with that!

Also, it seems a lot of people run in semi-costume. Yes, that’s right. I get to mix cosplay (which I love) and running! But who should I be…? And who’s coming to cheer me on?

05.09.13
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My name is Jessica, and I’m a jogger.

But I’m aiming to be a runner.

photo of myself

I started seriously attempting to run in January 2013. After a couple failed attempts at Couch to 5k since 2011 (I never got past week 3 either time), I decided to just start at my own pace and not worry if I could make it all the way through a timed run.

Some background on me: Before this year, I was never able to run a mile straight. Before last fall, I was never able to run half a mile. In high school gym class, we were supposed to run half a mile every morning. Never once did I make it the whole half a mile. The only time I came close, I had a mild asthma attack. (And I didn’t know I had asthma and still didn’t get treated for it until a decade later.)

I “ran” my first 5k in 2011. It was the Law Enforcement Memorial 5k, which my company runs every year. It basically involved me doing a week 2 or 3 run of Couch to 5k and then mostly walking the rest of it. My time came in just below 50 minutes.

My second 5k was the Color Run in 2013, so it wasn’t a real race, but it was a lot of fun. However, I developed a terrible side stitch about 3/4 of the way through it and ended up walking much more than I wanted to. (I’ll do a full recap of it later!)

My third is coming up in just a little over a week, this year’s Law Enforcement Memorial 5k. I know I will not be able to run the whole thing (I’m just not there yet), but I hope to possibly PR. My training runs have me around a 39 minute 5k, but I would love to come in closer to 35 minutes.

What do I hope to accomplish? My first goal is to be able to run a whole 5k without walking. Then I would like to tackle a 10k. And then a half-marathon. I’m still undecided if I’d ever want to attempt a full marathon, but I have a while before I’m there yet.

As for the purpose of this blog, it is to share my journey and progression from jogger into (hopefully one day) a decent runner. I’ll share my training, my races, and anything cool I find related to running. Feel free to follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, or Twitter. As for running apps and sites, you can find me on Nike+, Strava, and Garmin Connect.