Run The Year 2018 Challenge - Team Heart and Soles

I got into running about 9 years ago after my oldest daughter was born, my goal was to lose the baby weight I had gained during my pregnancy with her.  I had really gotten into it and signed up for my first half marathon, 15 weeks into my training I had injured my knee and was not able to race the event I signed up for.  It was a very heart breaking moment for me as I had worked so hard and I was very excited for all that I had accomplished along the way.  I changed my eating habits and with all the running I was doing I had lost a significant amount of weight, I was very proud of my self and how far I had come.  Then after I got injured I was unable to workout for months and although I didn’t have surgery on my knee it was a long road to recovery for me.  I had gained most of my weight back and was back where I started.  I was not in a good place with my self confidence, I knew I needed to get back into running and healthy eating again.  

I did some searching on the web for some local races and training plans and came across Run the Edge which was an awesome running website that had tons of valuable information.  Within the site I came across their yearly challenge called Run The Year, which meant that every year you would have a full 12 months to run those many miles, it was a fun way to get people motivated to workout with an awesome support system.  This group was amazing, not everyone in the group ran, there was a nice mixture of marathon runners all the way to walkers.  I decided to give it a shot and join the group as a solo runner, I had no idea what I was getting my self into.  It was so much harder than I expected, running over 2000 miles in one year was insane especially by my self.  At one point I felt very overwhelmed and felt like I was playing catch up all the time and it made me very stressed out but then when I went to our support group and read other people’s posts that were struggling just like me I didn’t feel so alone.  I took a deep a breath and keep pushing along, it wasn’t about completing the full miles it was about setting goals for myself to become healthier and learning from others.  I loved reading other people’s stories, their victories, their triumphs, their weakness and their failures it make me realize that we are all human and things always happen in our lives that are out of our control.  It’s never easy to get back on a horse once you have fallen as it’s much easier to walk away and say “I’m done” and give up.  This is my fourth year doing this challenge, the last three years I did it solo and have yet to complete the full miles of that year. 

At the end of last year I reached out to some family members to see if anyone would be interested in joining me this year for 2018 as a team and support system, I received a positive response and created our "Team of Heart and Soles" which consists of my self, my husband Richard, my mom Gale and my auntie Rita.  I was so excited to finally have an amazing team to get this year going, we all have different personal goals and a nice mix of running and walking in our group the best part is that it’s with family.  We have created a group in Facebook messenger for all of us to talk daily by posting motivational quotes, daily check-in’s, support, encouragement and positive conversations, it really has made a difference for all of us.  The year started off amazing for my husband and I until he caught the flu and was out for two weeks and then I have caught two nasty head colds, the weather here in Dallas, Texas is like nothing I have ever experienced before.  I have not been running now for over 3 weeks which has really set me back.  I'm finally on the road to recovery as I'm starting to feel better each day but that means I'm back to the beginning of my running program again.  I have a few upcoming races that I'm interested in doing over the next few months but I'm nervous to sign up for anything due to my past with allergies and colds.  I will also be reevaluating my nutritional plan to help get me back on track.  I'm still hopeful and excited for a good running year with my team!!!