My Little Running Secret

In the last three years I have run a full marathon, 9 half marathons and countless 10Ks and 5Ks. Want to hear the best part? I have never once had an injury that has prevented me from running. My secret? Here it is: My name is Catie and I'm a run-walker. Yes I said it. I use Jeff Galloway's "Run-Walk Program". Run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute repeat until distance is completed. You might be thinking "well she never actually RAN those distances mentioned before". What did I do, fly them? Once after completing 9 miles I told my friend about this secret and she accused me of not actually running those miles. That it didn't count. I was in shock. Who was she to say that? When was the last time she was ran, nonetheless run-walked 9 miles? Never! 

My running history is the same as many people. In high school I started running to lose weight and constantly found myself having to stop because of an injury. Three years ago I decided to run my first half marathon. I came upon Jeff Galloway's "run-walk method" and as I said before I have been injury free ever since (knock on wood).  Oh and I continue to lose weight (when eating better, duh).

Another question I'm constantly asked, if you walk aren't you slow? HELL YEAH! In fact I once came in second to last at a half marathon. Fun anecdote, during that race I was wearing a shirt that said "if you can read this then at least I'm not last" on the back. For the whole race I thought I was last, so I was kind of happy at the end to know there was at least one person behind me to read that shirt.

I'm not running a 7 minute miles by any means. This kind of bothered me at first, but I slowly realized that I can continue to run and run healthy this way. Sometimes I find I run faster using the run-walk method than I do running straight through. Oh and I ENJOY running and go farther than I ever thought possible. I even have a t-shirt design in mind for my next race "I'm slow, get used to it. I have!"

So why did I write this blog post? I'm sick of hearing people say "I can't run a half marathon or (insert distance amount here)." If I can, you can! Seriously. If you hate running or don't think you can, give this a try. Hey, you might surprise yourself!

Ps. Please don't refer to this as "the way" I run, because if you ever mention going for a run "the real way" I will smack you silly. No really. But all "kinds" (ew I hate that word)  of running are made EQUAL!