I was never a runner at all. I did track for a season in Middle School just because my friends did and it was fun, but I definitely was not that interested in it. While being at college, I saw my friends get involved in running, with two of my friends doing a half marathon freshman year and four of them doing it sophomore year. I’m honestly not sure how the idea came to be, but before going abroad junior year, my friends had the idea of running a half marathon while abroad. At first, I thought this was a crazy idea. Why would I want to torture myself with running while im abroad in Europe? Eventually, FOMO overtook me, and inspired me. I had seen how much they loved running and realized I wanted to give it a shot.
I started trying to actually run in the fall of my junior year while in D.C. I realized how cool it was to be able to explore a city by running around everywhere. Getting into running was not easy, but it felt good to keep building up the mileage and looking back on when one mile was way too much for me. When we went abroad in the spring semester of my junior year, the idea of the half still felt very daunting, but slowly it became more real to me. Being able to explore Rome by just running around was one of the most amazing experiences. A few times I ran to all of the major monuments, or just ended up in adorable side streets and neighborhoods just from running around. It truly was so wonderful.
I missed the deadline to run the half marathon with my friends in Galway, Ireland, so I signed up to run one in Bologna, Italy. It was just me and hundreds of Italians running through these medieval streets. It was so amazing, and definitely difficult at times, but I am so proud of that accomplishment.
After the half, I kind of tapered off with running. I did a few runs here and there, but it wasn’t the same. When we got back to school for my senior year, my friends discussed doing the Runsilience Half Marathon for our senior year. I still was unsure, but ultimately decided in the spring that I would do it. It was hard to get going again, but it was great yet again to run in new areas of Worcester and Auburn. I have enjoyed going on runs with my friends, and supporting one another through all the aches and pains.
About 2 weeks before the Half Marathon at the end of April, I got a really bad cold and cough. For me, this happens yearly and I get bad coughs that last for a while. This time, it got really bad and led to inflammation in my ribs. Ultimately, I was unable to run the half last Sunday. However, this journey of going back and forth deciding if I wanted to run made me realize that I do really love it. I was super excited to run this half with my friends, and I know I will do another one in my future.
This cycle of either full force training or not running at all made me realize that I need to develop a healthier relationship with running. I am excited to go for runs, once I’m better, without the pressure of hitting that perfect training schedule to be able to do the 13.1. I am excited to train for another half at a point in my life. Running is truly such a special thing, and I am happy I’ve discovered it. It really can connect people. I’ve gone on great runs with my friends, I went on a few runs with my cousin in Italy which made us closer because of our shared love for it, and I hope to continue to explore new cities from running.