What's Your Fitness Journey? I'm Training for a Marathon!

Hello Team Steem!

It’s been a while between posts and this newbie is still getting the hang of all that HTML coding (I am the most computer illiterate person in the world of my generation) so I am thankful to @mazzle who has helped me with formatting so that my article doesn’t resemble something I bashed out on Microsoft Works.

So my previous post referred to some goal setting and I thought I’d post a bit about my running journey and include a few pretty pictures from a jog/walk I did on the weekend. Basically I am running and doing interesting walks every week to prepare me not just for the Melbourne Marathon in October but also the Inca Trail in December. I like mixing up my training runs with walks in steep or undulating terrain as it helps with leg strengthening and conditioning and helps me regulate my breathing. I have been alternating my runs between paved paths and barefoot on the beach and increasing my distance by 1 km each week. I am now on the 7 km mark.

My on and off running journey has been relatively recent but interesting and admittedly tentative at times. I went from being the nerd kid who got picked last for every sports team and couldn’t run more than 100 metres to a (still nerdy) gal who loves a challenge and in 2015 I ran my first marathon. I will never forget being almost in tears at the 38 km mark from the exhaustion, sweat running down my brow (and probably snot down my nose) and almost as if on cue, Sia’s ever powerful and inspiring ‘Titanium’ began to blast out of the speakers and this is what got me through to the finish line.

The feeling of exhilaration and accomplishment at the finish line was priceless. Although I continued with my fitness journey I gave running a break but now it’s 2018 and I AM BACK. So why have I returned to running?

• The rush of endorphins and sheer joy that you feel (especially at the end!)
• Discovering new places to run
• I tend to prefer lifting heavy weights than anything cardio inspired but running outdoors makes it worthwhile and enjoyable
• Any excuse to get new SHOES

So check out this amazing walk from Sunday just gone – the 1000 steps or Kokoda Track Memorial Walk. Situated in the leafy and picturesque Dandenong Ranges National Park in Victoria, Australia. It has been designed to give visitors a small sense of what the actual Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea would have been like for the soldiers in WWII. It boasts spectacular views marked by information plaques along the way and there’s a few memorial statues at the base. The walk itself is also very steep with occasionally very narrow steps. It had been a while since I last did this one and by golly every step hurt towards the end but nothing beats the exhilaration felt once you reach the top.

That’s it for now but I couldn’t sign off without a shout out to all my friends who accompanied me for runs back in Perth and kept me going and to my personal trainer who kickstarted my fitness journey.

Are you on a fitness journey as well? Tell me about it!