Do you remember your first?

~ Chocolaterunsjudy

bfirst

Your first run, that is?

I don’t. Apparently I really don’t.

Fairytales and Fitness

As I was moving around running clothes — putting away some (not all) heavier clothes, bringing out more skirts — I happened upon an old journal. If you asked me when I started to run, I would tell you about 10 years ago. I would tell you I had never run a mile before starting to run 10 years ago. I was wrong.

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I ran a mile? In 1993?

Why journal? Because my memory sucks!
I have journaled, off and on, since I was a kid. I’ve kept some of them, gotten rid of some of them. This particular journal just happened to be on top of the box I had my skirts in for the winter, and it almost knocked me in the head as I got the box down.

Curious, I opened it and skimmed through it. There weren’t many entries in that particular journal. The journal was from 1993. 26 years ago.

Imagine my surprise to see myself writing about running. I knew that I had tried to run, on and off, for a while when we lived in TX, but I also knew it didn’t happen much and didn’t think I really was serious about it. In 1993, we had only lived there one year. I didn’t belong to a gym and I didn’t have a treadmill.

Yet I wrote about running a quarter of a mile . . . working up to one whole mile.

How in the world could I have forgotten that? How did I track it, anyway? I certainly didn’t have a GPS watch. I didn’t have a cell phone. I never went to a track. My best guess is maybe I was wearing a pedometer, but again — I have no memory of this at all.

chesterstevie
That “lake” in the background is Town/Ladybird Lake. There’s a wonderful path that goes around it. I walked many miles there — and apparently ran one. A very young Chester with Stevie Ray Vaughn.

I do have some fuzzy memories of trying to “jog” (that’s what I called it in my journal) at Town Lake (now called Ladybird Lake). Just a little. A whole mile? Apparently I blocked it out of my memory.

Do I remember the first time I really ran — and kept running?
Again, no. I know I had started to run, as a way to hopefully lose those last few pounds, while we lived in TX — shortly before we moved here. In 2009. I would just run occasionally when I walked the dogs: Chester and Lola were young, then, and they loved those extremely short intervals.

I remember I used to take them to a nearby grade school that had a round walking path. I’d put them in a down stay, and I’d run around that “track”. I slowly increased the number of laps I ran. I remember those “runs”.

My first run when I decided I would train for a 5k? No, I have no memory of it. I’m pretty sure it was on the treadmill. I know I did a lot of my training on the treadmill, but eventually I moved it outside, because the race was outside and I figured I needed to get used to running on the road.

Once I got serious about running, I started to keep running journals. I wrote about it on FB, but it’s not always easy to find old stuff on FB. Now I have this blog, as well.

Do you journal (online or actually pen to paper)?

Do you go back and read old entries?

Do you really remember your first run? Do tell!

Journaling keeps memories alive. A photo may be worth a thousand words, but sometimes you need those words to really remember what happened and what it felt like — Chocolaterunsjudy

22 thoughts on “Do you remember your first?”

  1. No. I do not journal. Just blog.

    The only time I did journal was the year I spent in France my junior year. I don’t have it.

    My first run? It’s on the blog. I started the blog when I decided to fleet feet’s no boundaries with two friends in March 2008.

    First attempt at a run was April 1. It was exhilarating. I was hooked. Haven’t stopped since.

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      1. I suppose. At least I now only have ONE blog. I used to have many. LOL

        I prefer blogging because it doesn’t take up space. I HATE clutter and tend to throw things away (unlike my hubby).

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  2. I am a journalist by trade ( earned my first bachelors degree in journalism) so of course I LOVE this post and LOVE that you journal. I had a class in college where we were required to keep a journal and write something in it every day. At first I thought it was hokey as I didn’t have something to write everyday but years later I would look back and read it again and was so glad I wrote in it. Since then I’ve never kept an actual journal, but I do keep a running journal and I always have a daily planner that I jot things down ( memories, feelings, etc). Heck I now have a journal for Baylee! The vet thought it would be good for me to record how she feels on a daily basis ( and what the weather is like to see if that is affecting her arthritis). We use it to keep track of what she eats, when she potties and any “accidents” she has. TMI? -M
    Thanks for linking up Judy!

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    1. Definitely not TMI to me, LOL. My first blog, almost 20 years ago, was to detail my cat’s kidney disease symptoms.

      When we got the boys they got their own blog, which went on to include my other elderly cat, Chester & Lola.

      I’ve always been drawn to writing. I don’t think I’m a great writer by any means but it’s cathartic for me. My dad used to journal too; my mom, OTOH, finds writing difficult.

      Now it’s just the blog & my written planner (which also includes my running journal, my travel journal when we travel, too).

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  3. I DO remember my first. Like you, I had one brief, unsuccessful foray into running long before I became a runner. It was 1978 (yikes!) and I ran for about a mile or two, exhausted myself, hated it, and vowed never to run again. 10 years later, a friend showed me how to start using the walk/run method, and I became a runner.

    I love the concept of journaling. I have never tried it before, but it may be time to start. Do you still use paper and pen or do you do it online now?

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    1. Nowadays I have a planner. In there I write to do lists, I keep a gratitude journal, I take notes when we travel, I write down stuff throughout the month that was fun.

      So I don’t as much journal about feelings so much, anymore. If only my planner had more room . . . I do like pen & paper but everyone is different!

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  4. I used to journal but it was short lived and a long time ago. I do remember my first “real run” after recovering from ACL surgery. It was on the track w my trainer and I could barely run 1 lap around the track. Humbling!

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    1. I have journaled on & off for so many year, now my planner & the blog are my journal, really (although it’s not the same thing!).

      I have absolutely no memory of the first run I did to train for my first 5k . . .

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  5. That’s so cool that you found the journal and we’re able to look back on that! I always feel like I should journal but I never was able to keep up with it. I remember my first race of various distances but don’t really remember my first run.

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    1. Well, it really did almost hit me on the head, LOL!

      I do remember my first 5k (somewhat). Definitely my first half.

      I actually don’t journal now, per se, as I keep a planner (which I use for a lot more than just to do lists!). So it’s kind of my journal. Always liked putting pen to paper.

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  6. I 100% remember the first time I ran and I hated it. Every single second but then again it was something I was forced to do for a sport. You can’t really enjoy something until you do it for yourself I think.

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  7. Do you journal (online or actually pen to paper)? Not since I was 12 or 13.

    Do you really remember your first run? Yes I do. It was a 5k held Memorial Day weekend 2015. I had decided I needed to change up my exercise routine. I wanted to do something out of my comfort zone. I followed the plan “Train Like A Mother”. It was a good plan for someone who didn’t run. I finished just under 30 minutes. Everyone received a metal. I wasn’t first, but I almost cried because I did it. I was 52 _ thought I did good for an old broad.

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    1. You keep saying you are slow — well obviously you are NOT! I have never run a 5k under 30 minutes. Heck, I’d be super happy with 31 (and don’t see that happening anytime soon).

      I remember my first race, but not my first run training for that race. Not at all.

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  8. I have a journal (actually several volumes of notebooks), but got away from it a few years ago…about the time I started blogging. I really would love to get back to it. I’d been writing in those books since I was 14 or so. YIKES.

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    1. Well good! I was beginning to think I was the only weird one.

      Blogging has definitely taken over from journaling, but my planner now has my running journal (I’ve been keeping one for many years) along with a lot of other stuff. I use different colored markers & that makes me ridiculously happy. 🙂

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  9. I journaled when the boys were little–I wanted to remember every single moment. I need to pull them out! But as far as running goes–heck, I don’t even have photos from my races back in the day. It wasn’t “a thing”. I’m kind of sad about that since I’ve been running since the late 1980s.

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    1. That’s sad you don’t have any photos from your earlier races. 😦 I know with my first half, which wasn’t that long ago, I had pretty much no idea about race photographers — Mr. Judy took a photo of me in the hotel room after the race. I also didn’t have a blog, wasn’t on FB, and didn’t really thing about how the photo would look, LOL!

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  10. Middle school track team aside, the first time I ran on my own it was spring break my sophomore year of high school. I put on cotton sweat pants, a windbreaker and my new Nike Waffle trainers and ran. I have no clue how far. I started running after school every other day. It was a 2 or 3 mile loop. After high school I dropped running until my 30s. Ran my first 5k I believe in 1999. No pics, ugh. But didn’t race again for another 5 years. I was definitely a dabbler until I committed to my first half and full in 2007.

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  11. I’ve had various running journals but not kept them up (even a fancy actual running journal that was called that and had headings!). I know I did some 5ks in London but trained on a treadmill for those in a gym. I do remember when I came up to Birmingham and taught myself how to run again, and the first time I ran continuously for 15 minutes outdoors, though I must have done that in the 5ks and also I don’t recall when that was! I do remember my first half and marathon, at least!

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