How I Fell In Love With Running

I’d like to welcome Kelly, from CupcakeKellys.com. I’m not gonna lie, if you have “cupcake” in your blog title and you run, I’m all over it. LOL. Two things I love. Please give a nice, warm welcome to Kelly, I’m glad to have her as a guest post today.

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My name is Kelly, I blog at Cupcake Kelly’s. I live just outside of Boston, MA with my husband, Nick, and our almost one year baby, who we nickname B. I started my blog to document my baking and cooking experiments. Then I found out I was pregnant, so I started blogging about a variety of topics. I still write about my baking and cooking, but I also blog about my family, travel, fitness and races. I like to blog about life’s little moments and I hope you enjoy reading about them.

Anyone who has known me for a while knows that I wasn’t the best athlete, or even very serious about the sports I played. While I enjoyed soccer and swimming, I just never took them seriously. Usually, it was just a way for me to hang out with my friends.

After college, I was really unhappy with how I looked and how I felt. I started using a trainer and going to the gym 4-5 times a week. My husband and I had always spent a lot of time travelling. Whether it was to his parents for a weekend or on a vacation, I knew I had to workout during the week. This all changed as soon as I had my son.

Every minute counts as a stay at home mom, but this also means I may not be able to do my 5 workouts during the week, but we still travel a lot.

Before baby B, I ran maybe 2 times a week. Now I have at least 3 runs scheduled. I have my short run on Monday, my track workout on Wednesday and my long run on Saturday. Long runs I can do anywhere, all I need are my sneakers.

I needed to find exercises that were quick if need be, and running for me has been that. If I need to get in 3 miles, but B isn’t napping, I can do 2, and hopefully squeeze in 1 later. Running was starting to become more of who I am as an athlete. I look forward to those moments by myself, to those long runs with others, and to talk about running. I love seeing how hard and how long I can push myself. What my body can do is amazing.

I may not be the fastest runner out there, but I love the feeling you get when you finish a run, out of breath, sweaty, and happy. A runner’s high is no joke and it is an amazing thing.
The farthest competitive distance I have run is a 5k. Prior to half marathon training, the farthest distance I had ever run was 5 miles. In a little less then two months, I will be running my first half marathon. While I am terrified about completing a half, I know that all the hard work I am putting in now will leave me more than prepared.

Running is by far the greatest form of exercise and I can’t wait to see where this path leads me.

I hope you enjoyed this post! You can read more about my running and other experiences at Cupcake Kelly’s, and feel free to follow
me on Twitter and Facebook!

How did you fall in love with running?

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Thanks Kelly. I’ve really enjoyed reading about your progress as a runner. I know when I found out my wife was pregnant it put a whole new shift on being “healthy.” Thanks for sharing your journey. Keep running strong and can’t wait to read about your first half.