I am very excited to tell you that I finally was able to run 3.14 miles in under 35 minutes! I really wanted to be able to hit that time for my 5K on September 29, but it just wasn't in the cards. I have ran several times since then, but on Saturday I decided to take another swing at the 5K distance. I took a different approach with this run and ran it in 3:1 intervals, meaning that I ran 3 minutes then walked 1 minute for the entire distance. I have to say, I really enjoy running this way. I was able to give it my all for that three minutes and just when I felt like I was running out of gas, I got to walk. That one minute walk was just enough to catch my breath, and by the time it was time to run again I was ready to go! I ended up running the full 5K distance in 34:45. There was no crowd cheering me in, but that didn't matter to me. I felt so proud that I had accomplished what I set out to do. Since I had proved to myself that I could run an entire three miles without walking, I no longer felt pressure to do it without walking. Brandon was asleep but I just had to tell someone, so I called my mom and we celebrated over the phone. I got home, and I immediately thought of my old Cross Country coach. I knew that she would be proud of me, even if it did take me 10 years to finally get the time she wanted from me. I decided to send her a message on Facebook, and this is what I told her:
Hey Mrs. ,
I know you are wondering why in the world I am messaging you, but I wanted to tell you something that I hope makes you smile. I am Sarah Babb now, but I used to be Sarah Tucker when I ran cross country for you. You might not even remember me being on the team because I only did it for one year and frankly I sucked at it. I only sucked at it because I didn't try and I walked a large portion of the races. You used to always tell me that if I would just put forth an effort that I could easily finish my races in under 35 minutes. That is an effort that I unfortunately never gave you. I carried that same "not trying" mentality for a good portion of my life. I gained a significant amount of weight and on March 21, 2013 I hit my highest weight of 219 lbs. on March 22, 2013 I started the journey that has changed my life. I decided that I wanted to start running and losing weight. I had tried to lose weight before and failed many times, but this time I did it the right way. I changed my entire lifestyle. When I began running I could not run more than 30 seconds at a time. I have now lost 60 lbs and I am 15 lbs away from my goal weight of 145 which is what I weighed in high school. I wanted to let you know that I have finally put forth the effort, and I finally ran 3.14 miles in under 35 minutes. It took me a long time, but I wanted you to know that I finally did it! You were a huge part of my motivation and you didn't even know it. I just wanted you to know that you made a difference in my life.
With much thanks,
Sarah
I know you are wondering why in the world I am messaging you, but I wanted to tell you something that I hope makes you smile. I am Sarah Babb now, but I used to be Sarah Tucker when I ran cross country for you. You might not even remember me being on the team because I only did it for one year and frankly I sucked at it. I only sucked at it because I didn't try and I walked a large portion of the races. You used to always tell me that if I would just put forth an effort that I could easily finish my races in under 35 minutes. That is an effort that I unfortunately never gave you. I carried that same "not trying" mentality for a good portion of my life. I gained a significant amount of weight and on March 21, 2013 I hit my highest weight of 219 lbs. on March 22, 2013 I started the journey that has changed my life. I decided that I wanted to start running and losing weight. I had tried to lose weight before and failed many times, but this time I did it the right way. I changed my entire lifestyle. When I began running I could not run more than 30 seconds at a time. I have now lost 60 lbs and I am 15 lbs away from my goal weight of 145 which is what I weighed in high school. I wanted to let you know that I have finally put forth the effort, and I finally ran 3.14 miles in under 35 minutes. It took me a long time, but I wanted you to know that I finally did it! You were a huge part of my motivation and you didn't even know it. I just wanted you to know that you made a difference in my life.
With much thanks,
Sarah
I have not received a response from her yet, but I know that she will be thrilled. This whole thing has showed me that putting the pressure on is not always a good thing. It is good to set goals that will push you, but don't put so much pressure on yourself that you end up hindering yourself. Saturday was my best run yet, and I know that it was because there was no pressure. I was just running for me. I wasn't trying to keep up with anyone, I wasn't worried about feeling like a failure if I walked. I really wasn't even concerned with completing in a certain time to be honest. I was just running for me. I was running because I lead a healthy lifestyle now, and running gives me an incredible high. Causing yourself stress over losing weight kind of defeats the point. Stress causes your body to store fat making it very difficult to lose weight. You have to find a happy medium between being disciplined and stressing out. Keep that in mind if you are attempting to lose weight yourself. Don't be too hard on yourself. That is definitely a lesson that I am having to learn myself.
Thanks for reading,
Sarah
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