First Post

If you're reading this, welcome! This blog will be all about my journey to getting fit, losing weight, and participating in the NYC Marathon, possibly next year. Yikes! I have a lot of training ahead of me! But that's okay--I'm armed with books, the interwebs, plenty of support, and a best friend who is also my weight loss and running buddy. :)

What you can expect to find here are weekly weigh-ins and training reports, as well as race reports as they come.

On Sunday I did my very first running race. It was a local race honoring the memory of a cop who died in the line of duty. It was a great first race--lots of camaraderie, lots of spirit, and my mom even went to cheer me on! It was an amazing feeling--my friend and I didn't stop once and we even kept at the same pace for the entire race.

Now that I have my first race under my belt, I'm looking to train for a half marathon. In the meantime, I expect to participate in lots of 5K races. More on those as I sign up for them.

If you want to see my results for the Hoban Run, you can click here. I'm #496. A 12:32min/mile pace is not bad, right?



Now that I've got my first race under my belt, I've been looking into improving my form, so after rooting around the internet I've discovered that I'm a heel striker and I need to correct this ASAP before I start doing LSD runs (Long Slow Distance).

I went out today with the intention to practice forefoot running (striking down on the ground with the balls of your feet FIRST before touching the heel to the ground), but I ran into a few issues and needed to come home hanging my head with defeat. First, it automatically made me run much faster than I am used to so I couldn't control my breathing the way I wanted to, and second, I was wearing loose sweatpants. I had no idea just how loose until I started running and was almost pantsed by gravity. Argh. Next time will be different!

When I talk about runs here I will talking about my usual running routes (Ft. Hamilton running track, Dyker Beach Golf Course, and around Caesar's Bay). Oh, and I may also talk about biking as I have recently picked it up. I ride my bike to and from school, which winds up being about 1 hour and 20 minutes round trip. I do that 3X a week, and usually run 2-3 times a week.

Whoever's reading, I hope you get something from this blog. :)