My First Blog!
Welcome to my blog, now I am one of "those" people. Yes, those people who jot down their feelings with the internet-longer than a Facebook post mind you.
I wanted to first start out by giving a little information about myself, who I am where this all started.
I was born in Northern Minnesota and moved to the Twin Cities at a young age. Growing up in a family of 7 was never a dull moment and to this day my 9 nieces and nephews bring me great joy. I competed in several sports/activities: soccer, softball, basketball, tennis, hockey, track, swimming, lacrosse, dance, gymnastics, piano, church choir, band (trombone), German Honor Society and guitar. I finally settled with swimming and track as my main sports motivation. Well, truth is after getting hit in the face twice with a ball while at two different sports in the same day I decided I needed something with less contact...thanks softball and tennis.
In October of 1998 I went to my first swim practice in a suit meant for sitting outside in the sun in, definitely not a competitive swimsuit. That night we practiced turns, I got water up my nose and I crashed my head on the wall...for some reason I went to practice the next day. My first swim meet was two weeks from the start of swim team. I remember my first event was the 200 Free Relay and I was the anchor. (Last of the 4 swimmers) My goggles fell off, I ran into the lane rope constantly, and the race was well over by the time that I finished. I even received my first taste of "the pity clap." For non swimmers the pity clap is when you finish so far behind everyone that they feel bad and they that they need to cheer you on so you do not want to physically harm yourself afterwards.
With the start of my swimming career my hockey career ended, sorry Minnesota. I swam 4 days per week throughout the rest of elementary and middle school. At the end of middle school I joined track. I was always a fast runner, but never raced besides the mile in school. I was the second fastest mile runner overall as an elementary kid, so I figured I could give this track thing a run for its money...no pun intended. I ended up running a 6:15 mile at the first meet and never ran the mile again because I found the 800 m instead. A much more enjoyable cousin of the 1600 m.
By high school I was swimming in the morning, running track after school, and then swimming after track practice. To this day I am not sure how I had the energy to do this. I once recorded eating 3-4 peanut butter sandwiches per day in between my regular meals. As a distance runner/swimmer food was everything. Our main coach was the sprinting coach and he flat out said he did not like distance runners. In fact one day he had the audacity to call us all "pit pat plodders."
High School swimming ended on a high note, with several offers from various DI and DII universities. I ended up with an All-American honor in the 200 Free Relay which to this day is ranked as one of my highest achievements. I also was All-State Junior and Senior Year and All Conference Freshman-Senior year. Swimming was what I wanted to focus on.
In October of 2006 I visited the University of South Dakota (USD) and a few other colleges on a college recruitment tour. I liked USD the most because of its small town feel. I swam for USD for 4 years before graduating Magna Cum Lade with a double major in International Studies/History and a minor in Political Science. My swim career was awesome at USD and I met so many great people. I participated in the 2008 NCAA II Championships at the University of Missouri. I also held academic honors for the Summit League. All-in-all college was a great experience.
After college I moved to Sioux Falls, SD. I was really unsure of what I wanted to do with my life. They do not prepare people for after college...well I did not feel prepared. I ended up working for the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) as an intern for awhile and had some pretty crazy experiences on the drug task force. I even got to work the Sturgis Bike Rally. My shift was 4pm-2am. I can discuss the events of that offline if you want to hear some stories.
After a crummy breakup and feeling lost I really did not know what to do. High School and college were so easy...eat, swim, study, swim, sleep repeat. Now I was an adult working multiple jobs with no purpose. I worked part time at Buffalo Wild Wings just to make my rent each month. In the midst of feeling lost I did meet my now husband Ben Doty. I ended up finding a job near him in Pierre and moved away from the biggest little city in South Dakota.
Some people say that "Pierre blows," but I have met some of the greatest people here in the last 8 years. One of the best people I met was a friend of mine who is also a runner. Since I stopped swimming 2 years prior, I really felt like I fell off the workout wagon. I started running again. It was like a 1 mile run, 1 mile walk, 1 mile run, so not great. I told my friend that I wanted to maybe run some races at some point. She told me that I should run a half marathon...um yeah right, I can hardly run 2-3 miles. It was January of 2013 and she had her eyes set on the Deadwood half. I said okay, then I signed up for the race.
Enter my training plan. I went to the Aberdeen Mall in between prelims and finals of coaching the state swim meet for the Pierre Swim Team and bought some more supportive shoes, Asics Cumulus. Little did I know that these shoes were not right for me and I ended up having tissue separation in between my ankle and tibia two weeks before race time. Getting back on track, I remember the first 4 miler and 5 miler I did. Wow, I felt so accomplished and like anything was possible. I followed the training plan like my favorite recipe and was ready for race day.
Race day was early June 2013 on a Sunday morning, I got to the starting line really nervous and went up by the pace sign that read "8:30" meaning that I wanted to hold an 8:30 for the entire race. Once the gun went off I was going really fast. Keep in mind that my goal was an 8:30 but at the 1/2 way point my watch said I was holding 7:30's.....There is a hill halfway and thanks to Hanson's "Mmm...Bop" I made it to the top and got a second wind. At the top I tried to sprint about another 2-3 miles before I hit mile 10.....Oh mile 10, you suck on a half and you suck on a full. Mile 10 is the worst. The last 3 miles were flat, and the gels I had consumed were not agreeing with me. I ended run/walking the last 3 miles and bonked. I did finish with an average pace of 8:30 though! Not the way that I had intended perhaps. Overall. I was proud of myself, and after a few weeks of rest and recovery I wanted to sign up for another race.
On my next blog I will go more into detail of how I became the runner that I am today. I am hoping to update this at least once per week. I am also providing a link to the running shoes that I use now.
https://www.brooksrunning.com/en_us/adrenaline-gts-20-womens-road-running-shoe/120296.html
The photos below are Winston and I swimming at the Oahe Dam in Pierre, and the 400 Medley Relay at the Summit League Championship my Junior year. I did the 100 butterfly in this leg. The final photo is me after my first half marathon in June 2013.
I wanted to first start out by giving a little information about myself, who I am where this all started.
I was born in Northern Minnesota and moved to the Twin Cities at a young age. Growing up in a family of 7 was never a dull moment and to this day my 9 nieces and nephews bring me great joy. I competed in several sports/activities: soccer, softball, basketball, tennis, hockey, track, swimming, lacrosse, dance, gymnastics, piano, church choir, band (trombone), German Honor Society and guitar. I finally settled with swimming and track as my main sports motivation. Well, truth is after getting hit in the face twice with a ball while at two different sports in the same day I decided I needed something with less contact...thanks softball and tennis.
In October of 1998 I went to my first swim practice in a suit meant for sitting outside in the sun in, definitely not a competitive swimsuit. That night we practiced turns, I got water up my nose and I crashed my head on the wall...for some reason I went to practice the next day. My first swim meet was two weeks from the start of swim team. I remember my first event was the 200 Free Relay and I was the anchor. (Last of the 4 swimmers) My goggles fell off, I ran into the lane rope constantly, and the race was well over by the time that I finished. I even received my first taste of "the pity clap." For non swimmers the pity clap is when you finish so far behind everyone that they feel bad and they that they need to cheer you on so you do not want to physically harm yourself afterwards.
With the start of my swimming career my hockey career ended, sorry Minnesota. I swam 4 days per week throughout the rest of elementary and middle school. At the end of middle school I joined track. I was always a fast runner, but never raced besides the mile in school. I was the second fastest mile runner overall as an elementary kid, so I figured I could give this track thing a run for its money...no pun intended. I ended up running a 6:15 mile at the first meet and never ran the mile again because I found the 800 m instead. A much more enjoyable cousin of the 1600 m.
By high school I was swimming in the morning, running track after school, and then swimming after track practice. To this day I am not sure how I had the energy to do this. I once recorded eating 3-4 peanut butter sandwiches per day in between my regular meals. As a distance runner/swimmer food was everything. Our main coach was the sprinting coach and he flat out said he did not like distance runners. In fact one day he had the audacity to call us all "pit pat plodders."
High School swimming ended on a high note, with several offers from various DI and DII universities. I ended up with an All-American honor in the 200 Free Relay which to this day is ranked as one of my highest achievements. I also was All-State Junior and Senior Year and All Conference Freshman-Senior year. Swimming was what I wanted to focus on.
In October of 2006 I visited the University of South Dakota (USD) and a few other colleges on a college recruitment tour. I liked USD the most because of its small town feel. I swam for USD for 4 years before graduating Magna Cum Lade with a double major in International Studies/History and a minor in Political Science. My swim career was awesome at USD and I met so many great people. I participated in the 2008 NCAA II Championships at the University of Missouri. I also held academic honors for the Summit League. All-in-all college was a great experience.
After college I moved to Sioux Falls, SD. I was really unsure of what I wanted to do with my life. They do not prepare people for after college...well I did not feel prepared. I ended up working for the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) as an intern for awhile and had some pretty crazy experiences on the drug task force. I even got to work the Sturgis Bike Rally. My shift was 4pm-2am. I can discuss the events of that offline if you want to hear some stories.
After a crummy breakup and feeling lost I really did not know what to do. High School and college were so easy...eat, swim, study, swim, sleep repeat. Now I was an adult working multiple jobs with no purpose. I worked part time at Buffalo Wild Wings just to make my rent each month. In the midst of feeling lost I did meet my now husband Ben Doty. I ended up finding a job near him in Pierre and moved away from the biggest little city in South Dakota.
Some people say that "Pierre blows," but I have met some of the greatest people here in the last 8 years. One of the best people I met was a friend of mine who is also a runner. Since I stopped swimming 2 years prior, I really felt like I fell off the workout wagon. I started running again. It was like a 1 mile run, 1 mile walk, 1 mile run, so not great. I told my friend that I wanted to maybe run some races at some point. She told me that I should run a half marathon...um yeah right, I can hardly run 2-3 miles. It was January of 2013 and she had her eyes set on the Deadwood half. I said okay, then I signed up for the race.
Enter my training plan. I went to the Aberdeen Mall in between prelims and finals of coaching the state swim meet for the Pierre Swim Team and bought some more supportive shoes, Asics Cumulus. Little did I know that these shoes were not right for me and I ended up having tissue separation in between my ankle and tibia two weeks before race time. Getting back on track, I remember the first 4 miler and 5 miler I did. Wow, I felt so accomplished and like anything was possible. I followed the training plan like my favorite recipe and was ready for race day.
Race day was early June 2013 on a Sunday morning, I got to the starting line really nervous and went up by the pace sign that read "8:30" meaning that I wanted to hold an 8:30 for the entire race. Once the gun went off I was going really fast. Keep in mind that my goal was an 8:30 but at the 1/2 way point my watch said I was holding 7:30's.....There is a hill halfway and thanks to Hanson's "Mmm...Bop" I made it to the top and got a second wind. At the top I tried to sprint about another 2-3 miles before I hit mile 10.....Oh mile 10, you suck on a half and you suck on a full. Mile 10 is the worst. The last 3 miles were flat, and the gels I had consumed were not agreeing with me. I ended run/walking the last 3 miles and bonked. I did finish with an average pace of 8:30 though! Not the way that I had intended perhaps. Overall. I was proud of myself, and after a few weeks of rest and recovery I wanted to sign up for another race.
On my next blog I will go more into detail of how I became the runner that I am today. I am hoping to update this at least once per week. I am also providing a link to the running shoes that I use now.
https://www.brooksrunning.com/en_us/adrenaline-gts-20-womens-road-running-shoe/120296.html
The photos below are Winston and I swimming at the Oahe Dam in Pierre, and the 400 Medley Relay at the Summit League Championship my Junior year. I did the 100 butterfly in this leg. The final photo is me after my first half marathon in June 2013.
Comments
Post a Comment