The purpose of this blog is to help others to understand what goes on mentally, physically, and emotionally
in preparing and training for a half marathon
(13.1 miles), while starting back to school at the age of 45.
I am a 45 year old male who, after facing significant
challenges in life, has decided to make life a bit more challenging by making
some difficult decisions which will lead to positive life changes. These decisions
include focusing on living a healthier
lifestyle by running and returning to school, after 20+ years, to earn an
education which will allow me the opportunity to have a meaningful career. In September 2010, I decided that it was time
to start thinking seriously about what I could do to make my world a better
place, not only for myself, but also for my kids. After significant reflection
and careful consideration, I decided that there were several negative
influences in life and in order to affect a change, it would be best to
separate myself from those influences. Unfortunately, the majority of negative
to which I refer included, but were not limited to, old friends. As wonderful as these friends were, time with
them usually involved unhealthy, and not socially acceptable, bad habits. Although distancing myself from the friends
was necessary as they enabled the habits, it was also very difficult. These were my FRIENDS. These were people who I had known for half of
my life or longer; they had stood by me in difficult times; and they were there
when I needed a shoulder. Other than
divorce, it was perhaps the most difficult thing I had ever faced. I explained as best I could but most didn’t
seem to understand. They continued to
call and were surprised when I wasn’t available. Eventually, I lost contact
with most of them. Although it was very
difficult in the beginning, I have found
that it is well worth it, I have made many new friends and believe in my
heart that I would not have met them if I had not decided to make these changes
in my life. There is one person specifically that has made the entire
transition in life worthwhile, and that is my girlfriend and partner, April.
She has been a blessing in my life, always supporting me even when I might not
make the wisest of decisions.
Running, along with helping me to feel healthier physically
and mentally, helped me cope with the effects of the decision I made to let go
of my friends. When the others were off
to their party or doing their thing, I would run. It helped to occupy my mind which provided
clarity in terms of where I wanted to go with my life. It had been many years since I had exercised
regularly, so I started out running for time more than distance. Initially, I could run only for about 15
minutes, and would have to walk home. Soon, after running regularly, I was able
to run for 30 minutes each clip, but then had a much longer walk home. LOL!!! After a couple of months of regular running, I
had achieved a 45 minute run. I became
smarter too by running for half the time one way and then turned around to run
home! Once I hit that mark, a new friend
posted a challenge to me to run in a half marathon. I was nervous but very
excited by the thought that I could complete a certified half marathon. There was more to it of course than just
running one way and then back home, so I decided I needed to actually measure
how far my 45 minute runs were taking me. To my surprise, I had been running
about 2.5 miles in that 45 minute period.
I thought to myself, that 13.1
miles was going to take me forever to run. Honestly, I didn't know how I would
be able to run for that long but it was so exciting to think that I could
accomplish something of that magnitude.
My focus then became determining and improving my pace. After a few months of training I had actually
set a pretty good pace for myself. I was running almost 4 miles in an hour.
Still not where I thought I needed to be to run a half marathon, but pretty
darn good! In February 2011, I ran the
Disney Princess Half Marathon at Disney World.
It was just me and thousands of women!
Although I finished the race, I was only able to run about 3 miles. For whatever reason, my knee was not inclined
to cooperate that day and caused me quite a bit of pain. However, I decided I would try again! In September 2011, celebrating the one year anniversary
of the decision to change my life, I ran the Virginia Beach Rock ‘N Roll Half
Marathon. Not only did I run the entire
race, thanks to cooperative knees this time, but I finished about 25 minutes
earlier than I had anticipated and increased my pace time by approximately one
minute per mile. I am now signed up to
run the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville, TN in April 2012 and am very
excited about it.
In January 2012, I initiated another new chapter in my life
by starting my education anew at the age of 45.
After high school, I spent several years in the Army where I had the
opportunity to serve as a medic. I loved
what I learned and what I did, but felt that the Army life was not for me. Being brilliant at that young age, and of course
knowing better than everyone else, I struck out to start my life. I’ve held a variety of jobs in a variety of
industries. Not to sound conceited, but
I’ve done very well at most jobs that I’ve worked. However, they were “just jobs” because something
was missing. I wanted to really be
invested emotionally and mentally and I wanted my kids to point proudly to me
as an example. I never forgot how much I
enjoyed serving in the Army hospitals; making rounds with the doctors; and caring
for the patients. The idea of becoming a
nurse came very naturally to me and just felt right. Once I made the decision, I thought I would
panic. How am I going to work full-time
and go to school full-time? How am I
going to afford it? How in the world am
I going to be able to keep up with all those kids in my classes? Am I REALLY 45 years old already? But most significantly, can I actually do
this? It’s been 20+ years since I’ve had
any formal education. The reaction when
I told my kids was precious! They are
very excited and proud. April’s kids,
one in college and one in eighth grade, offered to help me with my
homework! I’m still nervous, but I seem
to have a tremendous amount of support.
That makes the challenges a little more bearable.
Now with all these changes happening in my life, I see an
entire new set of challenges for the future, WOW!!! What is next???
