Happy National Running Day! In an effort to inspire, motivate and encourage others to run, we will be posting a few stories over the next few days. Feel free to share your story with us by emailing goalsfitness@hotmail.com.
I reached out to Mary to share her story. I literally watched Mary’s transformation from afar. Five years ago, as I would teach boot camp and Mommy & Me classes, she would be on the track working out alone. At first she was walking slowly, than she was walking at a pretty good pace, then I noticed she was walking/ running and than after a few weeks she was straight out RUNNING. The struggling red faced Mary, who I would occasionally offer a word of encouragement to, was was turning into quite the runner. And five years later , she is still going strong. She is one of my favorite people to “run into” as she is always smiling and a breath of fresh air to see (must be all that running)! So meet Mary………
Mary:
“I started running about five years ago in order to lose weight. I set a goal to lose 100 pounds in a year solely through diet and exercise. Although I knew running would help me lose weight, I had no idea what I would gain by becoming a consistent runner. Running clears my mind, helps me work through difficult issues and manage stress, lifts my mood, and makes me feel strong, confident, and healthy. When I first started running, I often dreaded it because it was so hard. But I knew if I became really consistent, I would see results both in weight loss and in becoming a better runner so I focused on how I feel *after* the run as a way to motivate me to keep going, day after day. According to my running app, I have now run more than 4000 miles. And, I have felt better, stronger, and happier after every one of those runs. What I have learned is that if I run consistently, it will consistently reward me!”
