Adult Onset Runner

I was never an athlete or runner.  I played some sports up to middle school.  I hated doing suicides in basketball.  In high school, I only ran when it was mandatory in gym class.  Since I was in marching band, I only had to take one gym class instead of two.  I never had a desire to do track and field either.  I do like biking and swimming.  I was okay at volleyball, basketball, and softball but I knew I wouldn't make the varsity team so I focused on my academics and band.  I ended up being in the top ten for highest GPA's in my class so my hard work paid off.  My senior year of college I had a professor decide last minute she didn't feel like teaching a class so I had to pick up a few credits to still be a full time student so I ended up picking up a bowling, ice skating and a self defense class.  Those 3 were pass/fail so I could focus on my grades for my other classes.  Anyways, I took the bowling class in the fall and had a lot of fun.  I remember having ice skating and self defense on alternating days, the first week I couldn't even get out of my bed for most of the day.  I used muscles I hadn't used in years so I was super sore.  It took a few weeks and it got better.  I did get a gym membership with my college so I started going on the treadmill and running the inside track.  I still though a 5K was impossible at that point.

About 5 years after I graduated from Michigan State, my friend ran The Color Run and liked it.  I was interested enough that I signed up for my first race called the Color Me Rad 5K.  Since the race wasn't timed I thought it would be a good race to try and just have fun.  I knew some people just walk 5Ks so no pressure.  We ended up running/ walking and it was a blast!  I started to sign up for 5Ks even timed ones and they weren't too bad.  My best time was a Jingle Bell run in the winter, I think the cold helped me finish the race faster.  In 2014, I started to tackle bigger races and I survived.  I ran 2 10Ks and my first half marathon.  The Detroit Free Press Half Marathon gives you an 18 minute per mile cushion so if you're not the fastest runner like me, its still very feasible to do.  My average pace is 10-12 minutes per mile.  I hope to improve my time, but I know first I need to lose more weight.  This year I didn't run as many races, but I ran my first destination run in Chicago- BTN Big 10K and ran my second half marathon with a new PR!!!  

I'll go into my races in more detail later.  I'm a newbie runner and I enjoy doing #RunChat, #BQchat, and #Bibchat to learn from experienced runners any good tips and advice.  I am hoping to finish a full marathon next year so we'll see how that goes.