Yes, I will admit it: I became a victim of the infamous ‘freshman fifteen’ in my first year of college. I was a very active high school athlete and figured that my physique would continue to stay the way it was once I hit college. After being exposed to beer and cafeteria food I found myself gaining weight rather easily, as a lot of college students often do. During my sophomore year I decided that I wanted to make a change in my habits and get back into shape. I was athletic in high school playing basketball and volleyball. However, I never considered myself to be a very good distance runner. When I first started to exercise at the university recreation center I never gave myself too high of expectations for the distance of running that I would do. I started by just running a mile and feeling accomplished. A friend of mine convinced me to take a spinning class at the recreational center as well. While taking the spinning class I had an instructor who informed us that she had lost 100 pounds in the last year and a half. She was very inspiring and told us that we can set anything that we set our mind too. This instructor had just finished a marathon the month before I started the class. This got me thinking, “If she can run a marathon, why cant I run a couple miles?”. I took this motivation and decided to sign up for my university’s Indoor Triathlon that they have once a year. I trained for several weeks for this event and kept a positive mindset. I am happy to say that I completed the event and took third place in my age division. I have never felt so physically challenged, yet so accomplished in my life. I believe that it was in that moment that the way I viewed challenges changed for good. I now look at a physical challenge and initially see the struggle that it is going to inflict on my mind and body, but that only lasts for a short time before the view of my future accomplishment sets in. I’ve learned to see these physical challenges and exciting and extremely rewarding. I now am an avid runner of 5k races, indoor triathlons, and am training for 8k and 10k races this spring. If you are looking to experience the “runner’s high” that I am talking about, my number one piece of advice is to sign up for a race. It can be any distance, as long as it will challenge you. There are several great reasons why races are a good idea. Knowing that you have a race in the future can give you that extra motivation to work towards a goal. The races are sometimes have a fun theme (I have ran in a glow in the dark themed race). Most of the races are raising money for a good cause, such as autism or cancer. A fun bonus that also correlates with these benefits is that you will usually get a shirt to help you remember your accomplishments. Last but not least, in these races you are only competing against yourself. There is no scoreboard determining who the winner is or not, everyone has different goals and if you do your best you automatically “win”. All of these factors of races have contributed to my sensation of my runner’s high. I hope that revealing my accomplishments and state of mind help others to not be afraid of the challenge, but rather see it as an exciting opportunity to feel accomplished and proud! So do yourself a favor and sign up for a race! Just that act alone will make a world of difference!
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