Me & My Running Shoes

 

Thanks for visiting Live, Laugh, Love & Feel the Wind! I’m a 22 year old student and legal assistant and I live in San Diego, California. Growing up I’ve always been very interested in nutrition and fitness, but I never really had a grasp on how to correctly balance that interest with a healthy approach.  Due to my love of activity and healthy food and lack of understanding on how to properly fuel my body, I was very underweight through most of High School and while I loved being active, I mostly stayed away from the gym and participated in fitness activities such as Aerobics and Hiking.

HOW I STARTED RUNNING:

When I moved away from the rural area that I grew up in and no longer had the hiking trails available that I was used to, I lost my love of exercise and went from having an avid love of exercise to barely visiting the gym.  Lack of exercise and the frustrations of no longer living near my friends, being in a bad relationship and trying to juggle work and school on my own led me to feeling really dissatisfied and displaced. I think I lost myself for a bit there and genuinly wasn’t happy or enjoying life. Then one day, with a freshly broken heart, I spied my running shoes in the corner and decided to run on the treadmill in my apt. complex’s gym downstairs.

I started with walking on an incline for 30 minutes at varying speeds, then gradually built that up into running for 5 minutes at the end, then ten minutes, then fifteen…soon I was running for twenty minutes at an incline, which I had never thought I would be able to do before. I spent a lot of time doing nothing but the things I love, reading, cooking, running, watching films, and just focusing on me. Through the help of my running shoes, I found me again. I rediscovered my love for athleticism, for the beauty and adventure of every day and for the world.

And then one day I decided to run a marathon. Just like that. I think I was talking to my boyfriend and just mentioned that I was thinking about running a marathon and suddenley it turned from a thought into a goal I had to achieve. A goal that I knew was attainable because I knew I had the strength in me to do whatever I wanted. Pulling myself back out of the hole inside that I had been burying myself in taught me that I could do anything I set my mind to.  Six months of training later, I ran the San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon, I ran it with a hamstring injury from a week earlier, but I still completed it, averaging almost a 10 minute mile pace for the 26.2 miles.

 This is me crossing the finish line, I look sad, but it’s because I was crying tears of happiness, I was just filled with such a sense of accomplishment, wonder and strength.

WHAT I’M UP TO NOW:

Right now I’m currently training for various races, which I will create a page for at some point. I’ve also started studying for my personal trainer certification so I can start working as a PT while I’m going to school. Currently I’m a full-time legal assistant, a sometimes model and a student majoring in English Literature. I’m a busy girl, lol. : ) I love running and nutrition and have been such an avid reader of the blogging community that I decided to just go ahead and start my own blog. This blog will follow my journey of balancing school, studying for my personal trainer certification, healthy living, working full time and living life to the fullest with each mile logged. I would love to answer any nutrition or fitness related questions you might have, just know that I am not yet a professional in that area, I just know what works for me and what the knowledge is  that I have gathered from years of a passion for fitness and nutrition.

 Thank you for reading my blog! : )