Alexandria Living Magazine
Courtney Day
This is the first in an ongoing series from Alexandria working mom Courtney Day, who is training for her first marathon. She is scheduled to run the Marine Corps Marathon in late October. Look for more diary entries throughout this summer and fall.
Follow Courtney on Instagram at @courtney_day.
Two years ago, I would have never imagined myself as someone to sign up and train for a marathon.
However, slowly incorporating running into my daily routine has made me realize the positive impact it has had on my life — and I am ready for the challenge!
In the past, I always relied on running as a way to stay in shape. I never really enjoyed it, and it was something I had to force myself to do either because I needed to lose a couple of pounds after being pregnant or my clothes weren’t fitting quite right anymore.
It wasn’t until I met a friend, Liz, that my interest in running really started to take shape. She introduced me to a local running group, called Moms Run This Town (MRTT), and guilt tripped me into running a half marathon with her. Since the Rock n’ Roll DC Half Marathon with Liz, I have also completed two Ragnar Relay races: Washington, DC and Richmond Trail, and met several great people along the way.
While training for these races, I began running more frequently, and started to notice improvements in all aspects of my life. For a while, the increased responsibilities at work, the highs and lows of my relationships, parenting struggles always taking new shapes, and trying to keep up with the household and financial obligations all started to weigh heavily on me. I felt defeated at times and I wasn’t myself. Running has restored my patience at work and at home, provided me with the strength to find solutions and repaired my optimism. It has provided me with a way to escape from the day-to-day stressors, connected me with other women who have won similar battles, and renewed my confidence to take on new challenges.
I participated in group runs that inspired me to create a weekly event — anyone could join me for my Thursday run-commute from DC to Alexandria. Since I created this event, I have had two other runners join me. One of the runners who joined me, Roxy, did her first Marathon last year at the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM). After hearing her story and learning about the level of support there would be from the inspiring ladies of MRTT, I decided to commit and make it my first marathon, too! When I decided to do it, I asked Roxy if she would train and run the course with me since we are about the same pace and she has recent experience of running her first marathon, and she agreed!
The second runner that joined us, Kristinn, did a marathon once before and vowed never to do one again — until she met us. We introduced her to 60-30 intervals, and within 2-3 weeks, Kristinn signed up for another Marathon.
Hooray for peer pressure! So much excitement, and urges to get more runs in… until you physically can’t.
To be continued...
