I'm Kristyn, and I'm the Newbie!

Since "the Slow One" was already taken I guess I'll have to settle for "the Newbie".

My name is Kristyn, I'm 28 years old, I live in Utah, and I am a runner........or a wanna-be runner. I haven't actually run anything except for my stake 5k and a pretend 5k with Kelly (I know, I'm a dork), but I like to run. I'm currently training for a 1/2 marathon. I'm flying up to Portland in May to run the Hippie Chick with my sister-in-law Kelly (if you don't know Kelly--which really, who doesn't know Kelly around here?--see the previous post). I'm very excited for the 1/2 marathon and now that I have got my blister problem figured out, I don't have too many concerns about it. My body seems to do okay with lots of miles as long as I don't try to go too fast.

I have been married for almost 9 years, and I have 2 kids (almost 5 and 2). My oldest has autism, so like Mel, running has been a therapy for me. It is some much needed "me-time" that refreshes and invigorates my mind and body.

Anyway, my story began in September of 2008 (I told you I'm a newbie). I had recently lost about 50 pounds and I still had about 10 more to go, but I was at a complete stand-still with weight loss. I hadn't lost a pound in about 6 months. No matter how many hours I put in at the gym doing my regular workout, the weight wasn't coming off. I decided to try something new to try to lose the weight---that something was running. It seems like all the girls running on the treadmills at the gym were all very skinny, so it had to do something for them, right?

I had never run in my life. Running was actually the last thing I'd ever even think about doing. I used to look at people running on the street and wonder why they wanted to torture themselves that way. Little did I know, running is very addicting. I had always told myself that I cannot run. You know all the excuses..... I have bad knees, I don't breathe right, it hurts my back, etc, etc, etc. Well I was right about one thing. I didn't breathe right. On that first day I decided to try running I literally could not run 1/4 of a mile. I was about to kill over after like 2 minutes on the treadmill. Anyone been there before? This "failure" challenged me to keep trying, to learn what to do, and to be victorious over the treadmill. I called Kelly, and she agreed to train me via email, Skype, and even the occasional phone call. I started out with the Couch to 5k program, and by the time that was completed I was hooked. I felt like I needed something to train for so I asked Kelly if she would run something with me. We signed up for the Hippie Chick, and started my official training for that at the beginning of this year.

As crazy as it seems, I am a new convert to outdoor running (can you believe I never had the desire to run outdoors?). There is just something refreshing about being outdoors running in nature (especially the rain--I love it). I guess I'm a hermit, because I was completely content running on my treadmill. But now my eyes have been opened and my treadmill has become my "dreadmill". I just itch to get outdoors and run even if it is all by myself. One of these days I will find a running partner or two.

I am so excited about the Wasatch Back. I know it will be so much fun. Even though I am new to running, I love it. It is fun to watch the progress I make and to feel the sense of accomplishment when I complete those long runs still feeling great. Since throwing speedwork out the window for a while, I have really learned how much I LOVE to run. It was hard for me to love it when I felt like killing over from pushing myself all the time, but it is easy for me to love it when I take it slow and just run run run to my little heart's desire. So that is what I am doing.

I can't wait to meet you all!