Two months ago, if you asked me how I felt about running, I'd say "I hate running...I'm not a runner...I'd rather swim".Any attempts I made to run consisted of plodding, red-faced jogs that maxed out in 10 minutes.   

Then a co-worker challenged me to run in Harry's Spring Run Off. A 5km or 8km race held annually in High Park, Toronto to raise funds and awareness for Prostate Cancer.

 I think I suprised myself when I said yes.

I started a training program to take me beyond my current running "skill".  With only 5 weeks to prepare, I woke up at 8 am several times a week to go for a run. This in itself is a feat...I'm also a night owl..asleep at 3am most nights. As weeks passed the mornings became easier, but running.. running is tough! When you're lungs are burning and the minutes seem to stretch out before you and you feel like stopping, I find thats when the mental challenge of running kicks in. I actually think its similar to getting tattooed because I think to myself things like "Only 10 more minutes.. what's 10 minutes in your life? it'll be worth it in the end!" So my kilometres piled up and before I knew it ..Race day!

The Cube carried myself,  my co-worker Kerry, my sister Andrea(who also just started running and took up the challenge too),and my fiance Ben(cheer squad) early in the morning to High Park. It was swarming with people ready to running to challenge themselves and to spread some good will. It was definetley inspiring and energizing!  We piled in our corrals, the starting gun fired and to the rhythym of some funky beats .. we were off! Coursing up and down hills with thousands of other runners was crazy. So many bobbing bodies and even the breeze off the pond couldn't soothe the burn of the final steep hill to the finish line... but.. we all made it!

Yay! 

We dragged our stiff legs to the Cube and went to Sneaky Dee's for breakfast reward (c'mon, everyone needs a little bacon after an 8km run! lol). Then home for some ice on the legs and a nap... so exhausting.. but so worth it!

Some how, sometime during these past weeks, I caught the running bug... 

..and I'm running the Scotiabank 10km next Sunday.. :P