Hi, I am Melissa and I have been running for about a year and a half. I have run several 5k's, a 5 miler, a 10k, a half and a 25K trail run. I am training for my first full. I will be running Philly in November. I will also be running another 10K in October and a Half in November (two weeks before my full). The half will be the same one I ran last year and I am hoping to make that an annual tradition! I will be running my full with a MFP friend that I haven't met in person yet and I am really excited. I have several running friends on here, but would always like more. I am really looking for more friends who are training for their first full as well. Would be helpful to encourage each other. I am struggling with fitting in all of the runs during the week with my busy schedule, but am refocusing this week!

HI! I'm John. I hated running my whole life. November 2011 I decided to give it another shot. I was hooked. I've loved it ever since. Since then I've run 2 halfs, 2 10ks, a handful of 5ks and a couple of mud runs. Halfs are my favorite distance. I had intended to do a full in February but I sprained my ankle really badly three days before my last half and had to take several months off and just got back to easing into running 12 weeks ago. It's taking a long time to get back to where I was but I'm registered for another half in February. I'll work on a full sometime after that.

Hi everyone I'm Laura. I live in Minnesota. I started C25K in May then started the Hal Higdon 5K-to-10K novice program. Am set to "graduate" from that in a week and am trying to figure out what to do next. I like to have a schedule to follow.

I'm probably going to need to treadmill run for most of the winter, which I am not excited about. I can handle the cold, but not so much the snow/ice and darkness.

I've found the runners on MFP to be an awesome group of people. Looking forward to meeting more of them through this group.

edited to fix typo

Hey everyone!
My name is Ashley. I'm 22 years old. I've dabbled with running in the past, but I just started getting serious about it this year. I'm running a half in November. That will be my first race and I'm so excited!
I'd love some friends who are serious about running to motivate me, feel free to add me!

I'm getting back to running after taking a long break after a surgery. I'm in South Dakota so my training will be moving indoors in a couple months. I've run 6 half marathons and 3 full marathons. (3 Goofy Challenges) I'm a busy person who tends to let life get in the way of my training. Trying hard to stay on track and could always use extra running buddies who know what it's like trying to juggle life with training!

Hi I'm JT, I have been running for the last 3 years, I have ran more than a dozen 5ks, a half marathon, and was part of a marathon relay team. I am always looking to add running friends. I also cycle and have completed 3 century rides and two 50 milers.

Hello all!

My name is Lindsey. I started running a few years ago to help with weight loss. I love it now! It's my favorite cardio. I did my first half marathon this year which was the Tinkerbell Half at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. I have two more half marathons planned for next year. I'm doing the Tinkerbell Half again in January 2014 and then I'll go to Florida to do the Princess Half Marathon 2014. The medals are too cute! Plus I always wanted to do that one. I've never wanted to do a full marathon. I may change my mind on that one in the future.

Any runners in Los Angeles, CA or anywhere feel free to add me.

Hi I'm Sonja, and I can't believe I have been able to start calling myself a long distance runner! I did my first 10K last weekend and am training now for my first half marathon in April 2014. Wanted to give myself plenty of time, as I went up in mileage too fast last time I started running more distance and ended up with shin splints and runner's knee. I did two sprint triathlons last summer and am thinking of moving into olympic tri and half marathon with possible marathon in future!

Hello from Alabama!! Name's Jimmy. I started running May of last year at 245 lbs 6'4". I have continued to run and between the running and dieting I had lost down to 194lbs. Unfortunetly we went on vacation this year to the beach in July and since then I have had a very hard time finding my dieting groove again and thus am now sitting at 209lbs. I have started lifting so I'm hoping a few of those lbs at least are muscle mass but who knows!

Anyways that's my story, glad to be here and looking to find some great information.

P.S. Forgot to mention, the furthest I have run is 10 miles and the longest race has been a 10k. I will be running my first HM in Feb!

Hi All,

I just ran my second marathon yesterday (Marine Corps Marathon). I am here to learn from and provide advice to other members of the community.

In addition to continuing to run distance (10K+ on an average long run) my goal now is to cut my fat % from ~16 to ~9 and build some bulk for the upcoming spring rugby season.

If anyone has similar goals, questions or anything to add please let me know!

Best,
Damien

Hi everybody!
I am Rachel. I live in the great state of Colorado. I started running about 10 years ago. Mostly on the treadmill in the gym. I found that running outside is so much more relaxing, so now I mostly trail or road run.

When i see Long Distance running, the first question I have is 'How far is Long distance?' I think of long distance as marathon or ultra distances. We have plenty of those athletes in colorado. I personally am content with 1/2 marathon distances. Since I like to do other activities like hiking, snowshoeing, or something else outdoors. I only have a limited amount of time and I have found 1/2 marathon training fits in to that schedule.

I am new to the forum and need MyFitnessPall buddies, so please add me.

Thanks,
Rachel

Hi,
I'm Nicole.
I've run 2 full marathons, 7 halfs & a bunch of 5s, 10s & 15ks.
I'm training for my 3rd marathon (May 2014) & first half ironman triathlon (Sept 2014), so shedding some pounds while training is the goal!

I just realized I never did this.
One of my very first jobs, when I was about 16 years old, was at Runner's World magazine, in the warehouse. But I did not get the bug, did not even understand it. This was before the running craze of the late 1970s; it was just barely getting started. So I saw no new movement or trend. I just thought it was kind of weird -- when I thoughtfully considered it at all. Besides, the company had a bunch of magazines in those days -- Karate World, Yoga World, Archery World, etc. They all seemed kind of fringe.
I had started smoking when I was 14 years old, anyway, so running wasn't comfortable and wasn't going to be a part of my regimen. In fact, smoking had ruined my soccer playing. I remember the last competitive game I played, I had been smoking the night before a championship game. I went out on the field and I was gasping for air with my first jog. I could not run -- not soccer running anyway. We lost the game. Coach was mad. He blamed me, for letting the team down. He made me stay, even though the game was over and the season was over, and run, lap after lap after lap, around the field, for an hour.
I did not learn my lesson. i just gave up soccer, and most kinds of athletic physical activity for about five-six years.
Soccer players like to say that you can drink and play soccer, but you cannot smoke. There is some truth to that.
Then, at about 20 years, I started lifting weights, mostly because I liked going to the gyms where they had saunas and steam rooms and hot tubs. But I began to enjoy the exercise, and for some reason I began to run.
I lived in a large apartment complex at the time and, I think, the first few times I went out to run I ran down one side of the complex and back. AND I was seriously winded.
But, I kept at it -- not sure why -- and in a few weeks I was going around the perimeter of the complex. In a few months, I was going down the road a half mile or so, and back. Again, I am not sure why I found this so satisfying. It was hard. But I did. I liked it. I also felt impelled to go a little further each time, or a little faster, to push myself, so I felt the fatigue afterwards, or the runner's endorphins, or something.
Soon, I was running miles and considering myself a runner.
My family lived at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains and so, when I was home, I would go running up the hills, up the steepest streets I could find. We had one climb that we christened "Agony Hill," in tribute to the famous Agony Hill in Kenya, because it was about 300 yards of an incline of about 30 degrees or so. It was at the end of a three-mile run and my brother and I would sprint it, and get to the top, and practically collapse to the ground, with our chests heaving furiously as we panted and struggled to get our breath. Five minutes later, when we had recovered, we would head back down, slowly, gently.
I have run ever since, almost 30 years. I have run through shin splints and side aches and blisters and almost 15 years of plantar fasciitis. (I am so old, when I first got it, hardly any runner knew anything about it. I went to the running store looking for advice, and we had to look it up in a book. Even very few coaches could give you advice, because they did not coach guys who were old enough, or trained enough, to get it.)
I once ran a 10K in a little over 38 minutes and I once ran the Boston Marathon without a number. (In the old days, they let people do that. The 5,000 [or whatever it was] registered runners lined up at the start line, and then they let the 10,000, or so, unqualified runners line up behind them. We ran the course, and all the residents and spectators stayed long enough for us to come by too, and cheered! Interestingly, in those days, there was a huge mystique about the "wall," which turned your legs to jelly when a runner hit at about 19 miles to 21 miles. Anyway, because of that mystique, you never took a training run that went that far, unlike today. You might do a couple of 16 milers, maybe a 17 miler. But, you never did 19 because that was the wall. As I recall, the thinking was that the wall was some kind of a physical limit, where all your glycogen stores were depleted, and you were not going to be able to change that anyway. It wasn't something you could improve with training. So, why try?)
Smoking makes running really hard, but not impossible. You just have to keep up your training. You lose your lung capacity fast when you don't keep up. Still, even with regular running, it impairs your ability so much that I began to refrain from smoking during the day before I took my run. I would wait until after; then I would smoke.
I took up soccer again and I similarly would refrain from smoking before a soccer game. In fact, I was so embarrassed about being a smoker that I never told any of my teammates that I smoked, and I certainly never smoked in front of any of them.
Finally, about four years ago, I got a prescription for Chantix, the nicotine agonist drug, and I quit. People say: "Oh, you must have felt so much better when you quit." But, the truth is: no. I did not feel that much cleaner or clearer or more healthy when I quit. I just did not have the nicotine addiction anymore. I attribute the not feeling healthier to running. It kept me in shape and it kept my lungs somewhat clear, despite the smoking. I don't know if that makes sense, but I do know that research has shown that smokers who run significantly reduce their risk of lung cancer (by about half). When I quit, the only significant change was that I was no longer addicted to nicotine. But, that is no small thing, and I am incredibly grateful to Chantix.
Unfortunately, about three years ago, right after I had begun feeling comfortable with not smoking, I tore my ACL. I had the surgery and was on crutches for about twelve weeks -- which is a really long time. It has been a long road back, with many setbacks. But, the past few months, I have finally gotten to where I can run again, without any significant pain at all, and it makes me so happy.
I don't race very much, and I don't like wearing a GPS watch, and obsessing about how well I am training and how fast I am going. I just like going out, rain or shine or sleet, and experiencing the world and the weather, and going down the road, with my cares falling away behind, and seeing what is around the corner, and going a little further or a little faster each time, because that is how you get the endorphins.
I still look forward to my run every time.

HI! I'm eabernst and I got into running via triathlons. I'm originally a cyclist, and I used to HATE running (I even liked the swim better then the run at first). I mean, any time I had an option workout I would most definitely NOT run. That was 5 years ago. After another tri, and a new job with an active group of runners, I've come to love running *almost* as much as riding my bike, and ALL my option workouts are runs!

I've done four half marathons, a few 10 milers, and some 5 and 8Ks (weirdly, I've never run a 10K that wasn't preceded by a swim in the lake and a ride on my bike). This year, I'm hoping to complete 3 or 4 halves (including a possibly crazy one here in Chicago in January). For my next half, I'm aiming for a 1:50 (my current PR is 1:53:16 just over a year ago). I also hope to....do my first marathon fall 2014!

Jeff from NJ

Just getting back into running after some on and off again over the past few years. About 7 or 8 years ago I was running a bunch of races ranging from 5k up to marathon (did two of those). Now married and with two 18 month old boys, I like to run in the evening to unwind, have some time to myself, and to also aide in improving health.

I am signed up for a Rugged Maniac in July 2014 and will probably get into a few different races next year as well.

Feel free to add me here - I also use Endomondo app for running if anyone wants to friend me there too

http://www.endomondo.com/profile/5613875