For anyone out there who doesn't know my background, I work for the National Institute for Fitness and Sport (NIFS) as a Health and Fitness Specialist in the corporate fitness department. I work at the Dow AgroSciences employee fitness center doing a variety of health related jobs: personal training, teaching group fitness (stability ball class, Total Body Challenge-which is a boot camp style set-up, spinning, and 10-minute core classes), and general health promotion for several different programs and events throughout the year. I honestly LOVE my job :)
I graduated from Anderson University with a degree in Exercise Science. I have always enjoyed working out, however I did not take up running until freshman/sophomore year of college. You may find this hard to believe, since I really do love running now, but in high school I was that girl who DREADED the semi-annual 1-mile run in PE class. It seemed that everyone lapped me around the track and after I was finished with the run, I felt completely sick....yes, after only ONE mile.
At my current age of 24 years old, I am without a doubt in the best shape of my life. I'm at the healthiest weight I've ever been at (note that I said healthiest, not lightest), the lowest body fat percentage I've ever seen, and I have more stamina, muscle strength, and even balance and agility than ever before. (To toot my own horn for 2 seconds, I realized the other day that I can do 3 pull-ups on my own---to do one pull-up without assist was a life-long fitness goal of mine that I truly thought I would never accomplish. I even got teary-eyed!)
With all this said, even signing up for the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon was something that I had put off for a few years...I made excuses because it always fell on or around finals week in college. So, last year, 2009, being my first full year as a college graduate, I had no reason not to. I signed up and finished the mini-marathon in 2 hours 15 minutes. I had no time goals for this first race, as this was the first time in my life to run a full 13.1 miles. My only goal was to finish, and hopefully not have to resort to walking--which I accomplished and beyond that, enjoyed every minute. Where else can you see all the odd side-shows and hear teenage garage bands (that are truly terrible), run a lap around the famous Indy 500 track, and have random strangers yelling your name telling you to finish strong?? (It freaked me out the first time someone yelled, "Go Mechelle!" Then I realized, it's printed on my bib!)
For the record, my goal this year, on Saturday May 8, is to beat 2h 15m. I'm slightly uncomfortable putting this in writing for even one other person to see (big fear of failure). All of my fitness experience aside, this IS a challenge for me, as I don't consider myself a natural-born runner. It's something I work hard to be. The hope for this blog (my first one ever!) is to share ideas of what has helped me train, what routes I've chosen to run, and really just for everyone to see the inside of an average runner's training regimen for a long-distance race.
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