Running

I started running on March 13, 2012. This was 100% for me. Over the last 3 years being a wife and a mother has been my main two roles. I LOVE everything about taking care of Justin and Alexa. However somewhere in there I started to lose Ashley.

When I went back to work in February 2011 I started gaining a sense of pride and a sense of worth outside of my home roles. I enjoy my job as a budget analyst. I feel like what I am doing contributes to the Army, my family and our future. During my first year of working it was all about survival. With a husband half way around the world in a war zone, a daughter who was constantly ill and living in a new town I was overwhelmed. Monday through Friday I was on autopilot just to get through the week. The weekends were for traveling to visit family and planning for the next week.

In March of 2012 I started to feel like I needed to do something for me. This was a new concept for me. For the last three years everything I did had to benefit the family or I felt guilty. I realized I was not being the wife I wanted to be or the mother I wanted to be because there was something missing in me. So I decided to start running.

I completed the couch to 5K program in 9 weeks. Over that time there were a lot of highs and lows. I had weeks that I felt great and weeks where I really struggled. The program was harder than I thought it was be. I pushed myself and made it through. I set a high goal of a 30 minute 5K at week 9. Around week 7 I realized this was not going to be attainable. I ran my first ever official 5K on May 13th, 2012 with a time of 33 minutes and 29 seconds. It was one of my proudest moments. I did it for me! 

My goal this summer is to run at least 3 times a week and run between 2.5-4 miles at a time. I will be running 1 official 5k each month and on September 2nd  I will be running with my family. After that race I will start the 10K training. I am very excited to see how this all goes.

Update: July 8, 2012

Justin, Alexa and I ran a 5K on post on 9 June. My time was a little over 35 minutes. Although it was slower than my first run this run had a 1 mile up hill climb. Yikes!

The next day I found out I was pregnant. I immediately decided I was not going to run while pregnant. Fast forward a month. On July 7th after finding out we lost the baby I decided I was going to start running again. I ran an entire mile straight at 11 minutes 30 seconds. I wish I could have ran more but I was not ready to push it. I now have 8 weeks to get into running shape for our family 5K. I know I can do it.

Update: September 11, 2013

I am determined to get back into running. I ran twice when Addison was three weeks old. We then went on vacation and I feel off the running wheel. Once we got home I started running again. I am attempting the couch to 5K program once more. I have 8 weeks until we are in Orlando and running at Disney World. Wish me luck! 

Update: November 2013

I ran the 5K in Orlando! This was by far the biggest running event I have been apart of. It was a great experience. My time wasn't amazing but I finished the race in the Florida heat and I was proud.

Update: June 16, 2015

Well after Orlando I gave up running. The winter came and I wasn't about to run in the snow (or really any weather below 60*.) Summer of 2014 in Arizona was hot.. like 110*+ hot. With both girls home and only one jogging stroller, running only happened twice. Fast forward about 9 more months. Justin has been struggling to run so I decided we should join the Y as a family and start getting back into shape. We started the second week of May. The first day on the treadmill I ran/walked a total of .7 miles in 10 minutes. It was rough and a big wake up call for me. It's now been about a month of running 2-3 days a week. I am up to 1.75 miles in 20 minutes. So I still have a long way to go, but it's progress.

Justin, Alexa, Addison and I are all signed up to run in the Star Wars Half Marathon in Disneyland in January 2016. I signed up to do a 10K! I have never ran more then a 5K so this will be a big goal for me. My short term goals include running for 20 minutes straight this month (ideally 2 miles but really just to get to the 20 minutes will be huge). Then 30 minutes (3 miles) in July, 40 minutes (4 miles) in August, 50 minutes (5 miles) in September... I bet you guessed it. Yep! 60 minutes (6 miles) in October. November, December and early January will be sustaining and hopefully getting my total 6.2 miles under 1 hour for the race.

Update: July 14, 2015

It's been two months since I started my 2015 training. Today I ran 3.05 miles in 30 minutes. This is a personal best for me. I am sooo close to breaking a long time goal of a 30 minute 5K (3.1 miles). I am feeling a lot better when I run then where I was a month ago. My goal for the next 2 weeks is to run 3 days a week (pretty standard for me) and run the full 30 minutes without stopping. Right now I am walking about a minute and a half total of that time. 

Update: November 5, 2015

Well I stopped running in August until mid October. I ran 3-4 times a month but way less then I was doing May- July. I started back in October and decided to do the full 6.1 miles just to see my time. It ended up being 75 minutes. I now know I can do the full distance but I want to do it faster and fully running. I made a 13 weeks training schedule and plan to stick with it. I am now three weeks in. Today I ran 3.5 miles at 34 minutes. I am getting faster but more importantly I ran the full distance. If I can continue at the same rate I will be running under an hour for the 10K.