If I can do it, anyone can!

If I can do it, anyone can!

Me? A runner? Never. I could play high school and college tennis for hours – I wasn’t a runner. I could backpack for miles and miles – I wasn’t a runner. I was a mom, a housewife, a teacher.

But I was surfing one rainy day–- web surfing, following links. I’m not sure how, but I ended up at the Los Angeles Marathon website and found myself gazing at all the athletic marathoners running under the California sun.

As I looked closer at the photos, I began to realize these marathoners didn’t all look athletic. Actually, they looked a lot like me.

I was still carrying some of the extra pounds from when I was pregnant with my two girls – and that was 6 years before. I knew exercise was important, and I even had weeks where I’d join different aerobics classes, but nothing really regular. I thought of how I used to be active before I got married, joined the work force and had kids, but now it was just an after thought.

Out of those thoughts came the decision: I was going to run a marathon before I turned 40. Even before telling my husband, Reg, I made an appointment with my doctor for a complete physical. I felt like I needed my doctor’s OK. Nine years earlier, I came out on the bad end of a wreck with a drunk driver who was heading the wrong way on an interstate.

I didn’t remember a thing from two days before the car wreck to two weeks after when my brain start working again. I had been in a coma and to this day, I still see double when I look up and to the right. Plus, I had all sorts of foot and toe damage – broken shin, crushed big toe joint, crushed ankle joint. I’m a walking, talking (now running) miracle.

With two long screws in my ankle, I needed to be sure it was going to be safe to even start to run—much less do a marathon. But the doctor said I’d be fine as long as I took it slowly. The doctor’s office was very supportive – the year before, they had a relay team on Hood to Coast!

So I decided to start running at the high school track because there was playground next to it. That way, I could run while my daughters were occupied on the jungle gym.

Eventually, I worked my way up to running a whole mile. Much to my amazement, I liked it. This was something I could do. I didn’t need any equipment or special skill either.

Next, I went for two miles in a row. I was on my way and began to believe I could go farther and farther.

Finally, I told my husband my dream of running the very marathon which had inspired me to even begin--the Los Angeles Marathon. He looked stunned and had no idea what to think at first. But he was encouraging.

Then came the shin splints. Nobody had ever told me that I needed to wear real running shoes. I had been wearing some old cross-training shoes because I wasn’t a real runner yet. Real runner or not, I came down with those sore shins from wearing cheap shoes. That started my reading and researching and learning about running.

A local running store set me straight about the need for good running shoes. After being properly fitted, they made a huge difference and my shin splints quickly disappeared.

The next important lesson I learned was that I didn’t have to do all my running on the track. Instead of circling and circling the track (boring!)I began to run and walk around our four-mile, rural block in the morning while my supportive husband watched the girls. This was starting to be fun as I ventured out more and more.

I discovered John “The Penguin” Bingham (the guru of the slowpokes) and read everything he wrote. I was never going to be fast and The Penguin let me know in his writing that was just fine. I didn’t have to run fast; it was better to learn to run slow, he advised.

My running lessons came quickly and I began to change as I learned more and grew as a runner. Instead of running every day as I had been doing, I began running four days per week and enjoyed it even more. I learned that walking breaks were just fine. In fact, whatever I did fine was fine as long as I did it. There were no rules to what I could or couldn't do. This was all about me. I was in charge.

Eventually, I became a runner. Not a fast runner, but I completed my dream of running the Los Angeles Marathon before I turned 40. And, it was my second marathon instead of my first – a friend had asked me to walk Portland Marathon 97 with her, while I was learning to run for Los Angeles 98. Walking Portland, with a run/walk middle and running mile to finish, was a wonderful confidence-builder for Los Angeles! It wasn’t easy, but it was one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. Now, not only was I a runner; I was a marathoner.

You’ll have to trust me on this one: If I can run a marathon, anyone can. Marathons are habit-forming!