by Steven Richardson I never really like to run as a matter of fact I hated it. While growing up the only running I ever did was from the bullies at school, or my older brothers at the house. I did like to wander out in the wilderness for hours and stop at the spring that was a couple miles from my home to refill on water but never really like to do more than a slow walk unless absolutely necessary. 
 
Going through school I never did any type of sports nor was I even remotely interested in it.  My freshmen year of High School I did get the wild notion to try out for track.  It only took me one day of conditioning to remind myself that I hated running and it was a waste of time.   It wasn’t till my senior year that I finially decided to do something.  I tried out for the basketball team but that didn’t work out so the only sport left was track. 

The first week of track I learned something that I didn’t know.  Considering how much I hated to run and how little running I actually did in my life I was pretty good at it.  My first times where pretty good for a new runner.  My 400 was 58, my 800 was 2:15 and, my mile time was 5:38. I ended up making the track team and was put in the 400, 800, 1mile relay and 2mile relay. I was the fastest runner in the 400 and second fastest in the 800. 

I never will forget the thrill of my first track meet and found a new love, not for running but from competition. I ended up winning the 400 in every meet but one until regionals.

After I graduated I did keep running around six miles a day for the next few months but Winter finally came and for me that was the end of running, there was just nothing left to motivate me. When I turned 25 I ended up joining the National Guard.

I really didn’t know what I was getting into when I joined but I thought “bring it on."  I remember the first day of basic training, that place was a nightmare. I don’t believe I have never done so much exercising in my life. It was non-stop sessions that consisted of running till you collapsed, then doing push-ups and situps till nothing was left, and then doing strange exercises that I had no idea what to call them. We would get about 5 hours of sleep on most nights, and about 5 minutes to eat on most meals. It was horrible but it did make me fast.

Nice article Steven. You have set some very realistic goals for yourself this year...am sure you will make them with your work ethic and positive attitude. Also, thank you for your service.
Barry Anderson 5/8/12 9:11 am

Thanks Will only have one shot at the half and that will be in October hopefully I will hit the mark
Steven Richardson 5/8/12 9:32 am

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After I returned from basic training I pretty much quit running again. It took me nearly eight years to get back to it.  I ran a two mile run and ended up just getting under 17:00 and just about had a heart attack.  This was on a cool morning and a flat course. I knew then I needed to get myself together. So I decided that following Monday to start utilizing the one hour of PT that my job provided us each day.  The first week was a nightmare because it was right in the middle of the day when it is hot but I kept pushing forward. I attempted three miles on the first day and made it to about 2.5 before had to stop and search for some water. I did this same routine Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of that week and got closer each time.   I also ordered a Garmin 405 which a friend had told me about.  I figured this would solve my issues of recording data which I never was good at.

That Monday I started using the watch and recording all of my runs and that was also the first day I completed my 3 mile run and it only took me 30:30 to do it. I knew this was a great motivation tool but I needed something else to help. I needed competition that was what I really missed when I graduated.  I knew that I wouldn’t be able to compete with others but just the fun of being there was good enough. I had no idea how many races would be out there so just started searching google.

Within minutes I found a cool site that listed almost every race in the state of Kentucky and to my amazement there where a lot of them. I looked around to see what was going to be going on this weekend and found a nice 5k close to home and signed up for it. I guess the heat training really paid off because my first 5k race was just over 25 minutes. That was 5 minutes faster than my 3 mile time that prior Monday.

I was really excited about my time and ended up running a couple more races before winter. I tried to keep running through the winter but I hated treadmills and cold weather. I ended up getting my time down to about 23 minutes before I quite for two full months. I started it back up in March of the next year and hadn’t lost a lot of time but did lose a couple minutes. I managed to sign up for three more races before we deployed to Iraq. At the mob station in Indiana I was running on regular biases.

The Brigade even put on a half and I participated in that doing my first ever 13.1 mile run in 1:54:00. After we left the mob site I found it hard to run. When we got to Iraq it was so dusty that most of the time you would probably be doing more harm than good and yet again I took a few months off.   When we pulled out of Iraq and went down to Kuwait I started running again. I think my first three mile time was around 24 minutes and by the time we left it was down to 20:09. The only problem was that Kuwait is completely flat. There were no hills anywhere so when I ran my first three mile when I got back it almost discouraged me. As a matter of fact it seemed like every time I ran my time was getting slower and slower. Finally I realized that the hills where putting the extra strain on my legs causing them to get weaker much faster. So I modified my workout and ignored the times and pushed forward.    

Since I have been back I have moved up to running six days a week and my off day usually consists of walking.  I do have a few core workouts that I do three to four times a week but I rarely cross train.  Running used to be something I hated and had to force myself to do but now it’s growing in to something much more.  The love for the run is starting to settle into my soul and its only getting stronger as the days go by.   I never plan to quite running and just hope nothing major happens in my life that will take the ability to run away.

Goals for this Year: Sub 1:40:00 Half (Currently 1:51:00 Really hilly one though) Sub 40:00 6 Mile (Currently 43:30) Sub 19:00 5k (Currently 19:33) sub 12:00 2 Mile (Currently 12:29) sub 5:30 Mile (Currently 5:50) Total Miles Logged: 1080 (Currently < 500)