My Long and Bumpy Road to the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon

Like many people, I have had many moments of inspiration in which I said to myself "I'm going to run a marathon. Today's the day - I'm going to start today and run every day from here on out until I can finally complete a marathon." And usually about three days in I manage to run about 1.25 miles without stopping and that becomes my new record, which is soon followed by another few months of inactivity. And that's pretty much how my life has cycled for the past few years... until now. A few weeks ago my really good friend Taylor and I decided we were going to run a half marathon together. The difference between now and last time? We have a real deadline. Not just one we're putting on ourselves, but one that we have paid nearly $200 for and can't stop talking about. This deadline we have put on ourselves is in the form of the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon, which takes place in Disney World in November. Now I don't know about you, but personally, Disney World is just about my absolute favorite place in the universe. I would work my butt off if I knew my reward was an excuse to go there, and that's why this works. If I said "I'm going to run a half marathon that's down my street and I'll sign up for it in a couple months" then you can bet I would have given up on that already. But so far it has been almost a whole month and I haven't come close to stopping. And with that, I'd like to share a few things that I have learned over the past month of working to achieve this goal. Keep in mind these are coming from a complete beginner, not some champion who's run 37 marathons and won half of them. These are just a few things that I think everyone who is trying to get over that initial hump of discouragement need to know.

Pieces of Advice from a BEGINNER Runner

1. It's Just A Fact of Life: The First Two or Three Weeks Will Suck 

The first couple of weeks of getting into the running habit are by far the hardest - not just from a physical standpoint, but from an emotional one as well. If you can't make it that far you start to feel like this dream is so far out of reach and you'll never be able to get there, and no matter what you achieve it's not enough. I know it's hard, but try and put this out of your mind entirely! The first couple of weeks I felt like I was dying just getting to the end of my street, and now it's a breeze. I promise it WILL get easier, you just have to get through this part.

2. Try Books on Tape

Running, like all sports, is half mental: you have to be able to push yourself to keep going, when you want nothing more than to stop. Naturally, doing this is hardest when you are BORED OUT OF YOUR MIND. You could have the most pumping music in the world blaring in your ears and it's still boring and repetitive. I've recently started borrowing recorded books from like library and ripping them onto my iPod, and this seems to help a lot with the boredom aspect. It may not be quite as energizing as the latest pop or rap hits, but it can distract you from that exhaustion in your chest.

3. If It's Hot, Don't Push Yourself Too Hard

I recently read somewhere that for every 10 degrees above 70 the temperature rises, your body may run a minute slower pace than usual. This was discouraging to me at first, but then after running in 90+ degree weather for 5 days and then running in 70 degree weather one night, the difference in my distance and pace was amazing. Try mixing up the times of day that you run if you can so you aren't always in the direct sun.

4. Don't Starve Yourself, Please

Especially if you're running to lose weight, definitely don't eat less than your body needs. If you do you will feel really weak and later get frustrated about the fact that you didn't get as far or as fast as you wanted. Your body needs that energy - don't deprive yourself of it.

5. When Buying Healthier Foods, Get Something You Actually Like

I feel like I have scoured Pinterest for weeks searching for lists of good food for runners, and the responses tend to be pretty consistent: yogurt, bananas, berries, almonds, beans, etc. But here's the thing: lots of those things they suggest are kinda gross (umm Greek yogurt? bleagh!) So find versions of these things that you enjoy, and you might actually end up consuming them at some point rather than letting them rot in the back of your refrigerator. For example, I hate most any nuts. But being that almonds are supposed to be so good for you I bought one of those bags of the nasty things at TJ's and said "I can at least force myself to eat 20 almonds a day." Wrong. However, when I purchased a can of Blue Diamond Habanero BBQ almonds, I loved them, because they taste like BBQ chips. They probably have more salt and fat or whatever than plain almonds, but they have the same nutrients and those are nutrients that you'll actually consume rather than throw out in a few months when you give up on them.

6. Have a Running Buddy

Your running buddy doesn't have to be at the same level as you or even live close to you - heck, my running buddy lives 200 miles away from me. All you need from each other is motivation. If that means you drag each other outside every morning to run that's great. Taylor and I don't live near each other anymore, but we are "friends" on our running app so we can track each others' progress towards our goals and give each other encouragement. Knowing that someone else is watching what you're doing can be some of the best motivation sometimes.

7. Technology is a Wonderful Thing

If you haven't figured out already, there are tons of apps out there to help you track your progress and suggest exercises and whatnot. I personally use MapMyRun on my iPhone, and it's fantastic. It uses GPS to keep track of my location and measure my distance as well as my pace. Then it logs each workout so I can easily keep an eye on my progress. You can even log food items to keep track of nutrition and link with friends to keep an eye on each others' progress.

8. Iron, Iron, Iron!

Ever feel like you are about to pass out after just a mile or two? How about black spots in your vision? This used to be a real problem for me, and then the doctor told me my iron was low. After reading up on it later it made a lot of sense- runners need way more iron than the average person, so if it's already low that's bad news. Take an iron supplement or two every day and you'll probably be able to tell a huge difference in your overall health and performance.

Well that's about all I've got today and I'm late for work anyway. I hope this list helps out some of you out there that are just starting like me. If anyone has any advice for me I'd love to hear that as well - I'm still learning new things every day. Happy Thursday!