As we entered into winter of 2019 the rain started and my bikes began to collect dust in the garage. I also started to lose my fitness motivation, I had no goal to train for. I slowly started to gain weight back, and by Christmas I had gained almost 10 pounds. I still managed to go to the gym a few days per week, so I told myself it was muscle weight, but I knew better. When I started this fitness journey in July of 2018, I told myself that this was a lifestyle transformation, I wasn't about to give up, I needed to find another outlet to motivate my fitness goals. I needed something to push me physically and mentally. I needed something difficult, so I started running.
The first month of running sucked!! I have never been a runner or really ever enjoyed running. I could hardly manage a couple of miles without my knees and my feet aching for days. Everything I read on learning to run said to start slow to avoid injury. I wasn't really sure how much slower I could go, I was averaging 14 minute miles, every run brought more pain and discomfort. But I kept running, I set a goal to run the Avenue of the Giants half marathon in May of 2020. Every week I tried to add miles and run three to four days per week. Every week my long runs got longer, still slow, but the miles were adding up. By month three something strange happened, I actually started to enjoy running, it felt great, in a lot of ways it was similar to biking. I was running outside enjoying the countryside, I was increasing my miles, I was pushing myself physically and mentally to do something I thought previously was out of the question. I was becoming a runner and I was loving it.