princessbee
There's a great big beautiful tomorrow!
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2009
- Messages
- 272
The above quotation came from someone's comment on someone's trip report somewhere on this board and it's stuck with me a lot the past few days--especially any time I start running and remember that in the grand scheme of things I'm just a teeny tiny baby runner and I can't compare myself to all the old wizened elder runners who have been doing it for years. (You know, spiritually old and wizened. Full of wisdom and tips I'd have to dig through Pinterest for 800 years to learn.) (Yesterday, I found out through one of these old and wizened runners, who is literally younger than me, that you can change your shoes' lacing patterns to address specific foot issues. IT HAS CHANGED MY LIFE.
)Anyway, my name is Brittney and I'm here because I've been reading 10000 trip reports and training journals and race-specific threads for the past week and I'm SO FIRED UP! Do you guys know how inspiring y'all are? Well, when I can understand everything you're talking about. The first time I read about people eating "gels" during a race it honestly sounded like some kind of futuristic meal-in-a-pill invention that I'd never heard of.
But I'm slowly learning... all part of the Becoming a Runner process, I guess. (Not that I'd call myself a runner yet. Not by a long shot.) And writing these training reports seem like a really cool way to be accountable and build some kind of community, and God knows I'm going to need a lot of support! I'm 26, married to a most excellent lady by the name of Rebecca, and I'm an elementary special education teacher in Georgia. My favorite things to do are read, hike, read, plan expensive deluxe-resort-level Disney trips that are probably never going to happen, read, and play with my currently ELEVEN pets. (Two mice, which are technically classroom pets, two dogs, two cats, and five brand new less-than-a-week-old kittens!)
So many of you post such great pictures of yourselves in these introductory posts... and it's not that I can't find any good ones of myself, I just can't find any THEMATIC good ones of myself. I haven't been to Disney in over five years, and my main form of exercise for the past several years has been hiking--which I usually do with my dog, who isn't the greatest with a camera. Listen, I've tried.
And then all my other pictures are with other people, and I want to protect their privacy. So I present a picture from five years ago--oh my goodness, I can't believe it's been that long--when I was a Girl Scout counselor and accompanied 30 teenage girls to a caving/rockclimbing/kayaking trip in Texas. The picture was taken of me right after crawling through the cave system at Enchanted Rock. Did you know bat poop stains? A LOT? 
I've been training with Couch 2 5K, although because my main exercise is hiking and gentle yoga, I'm not quite fit enough yet to do the whole 1:00 run/1:30 walk intervals, and I'm just now moving to 1:30 run/3:30 walk from a 1:4 ratio... it works for me! But it can be frustrating to feel like my progress is so slow. My intention with this journal is to vent anything I need to training- and WISH journey-wise, and to post my progress as often as possible! And probably any other kind of Disney trip planning ephemera.
As of right now, I'm planning on one other race before the Princess 5K, although I'm willing to do more if I find something interesting! It'll be the Run Like Hell 5K on October 30 at one of my favorite places in Atlanta, the Oakland Cemetery! (Less creepy than it sounds... seriously, it's beautiful and full of history! Check it out if you're ever in town!) I'll be doing it with one of my best pals and we'll be wearing costumes... it sounds like a TON of fun, and the perfect race for my first time.
Today I took a 4 mile hike with some of my friends, their kids, and all of our dogs... as you can imagine, it was a very slow hike! But something about a midday hike in an Atlanta July really takes it out of you, and I'm exhausted. Tomorrow is my first day back at work after an amazing summer
so it's almost bedtime for me.
Congratulations on your awesome finish! I've learned a valuable lesson from you which I am now trying to apply to my own training in setting goals for myself. Thanks! Good luck in March, I have a feeling you are going to do well! 
