love/hate

today i celebrate my one year anniversary with running.

one consistent year of running.

here's the thing with me. i'm a total head case when it comes to exercise. i love to try new things...and then quit them after a month or two when i don't see the results i want. yoga, pilates, the bar method, personal trainers...i have tried (and quit) them all.

don't get me wrong all of those things are great avenues to include a little fitness into your life...and if I had an endless bank account and no kids i would probably still be doing some of those. (especially pilates...loved pilates!) however, my life always seems to get in the way of group classes like that and makes it easy to give in to those excuses in my head. "it's so expensive" or "there are no classes when i have my sitter."

the truth of the matter is if you make fitness and exercise a priority in your life then you will find the time to fit it in.

that's what running has become for me. a priority...and a pretty easy one. well, easy as in the fact that i can basically do it whenever it's convenient for me. the pavement is always there, rain or shine. i don't even need a sitter during the school year...as long as i'm down one kid i can take one or two with me.

i think this is why i have been able to keep at it for a whole year. Of course looking back at my running app i see there were months where i only ran once or twice...but then there are months when i ran 3x a week. running adjusts to your lifestyle and for that i love it.

after a year of running over 160 miles i can honestly say it's still a daily struggle and for that, i hate it. however, i have improved over the last 365 days.

my first run. 8/12/12 at a sloooow 12 minute mile.

and this past saturday. 8/10/13 at a much improved 10:15 minute mile.



i have run many many miles in between at all different paces...and i'm ok with that. i have come to realize it doesn't matter how fast i run or how far i run...it only matters that i get out there and do it.

some days i felt like i could run forever



and somedays i could barely do a mile.



that's the beauty (and frustration) with running. every run is different.

if it was easy everyone would do it.

i am proud of my year of running. it has been a my friend at times, my enemy at times and my therapist a lot of times. i am thankful we have reunited this past year.

running, i look forward to loving and hating you for years to come!