Ever wanted to try a 5K? Free Race Entries to the IMTDMM 2019 October races! Any distance! Enter soon ends 10/6/2019

Dig deep. You can do this! A view of my dreadmill

from my running shoes.

Just a few months away... Yikes.. and Yay!

Race day is getting closer and closer for those of us registered for the IMTDMM, which is super awesome.

If you are already registered, this post isn’t for you. Well, it is of course still for you too, but I really want to INSPIRE other people to START RUNNING! (So seasoned runners, now is your chance to share this article with them!)

This post is for all the others. 

All the people who have said, I could never do that, or I am too out of shape, or I am too old, or I am too busy.... 

THE ABOVE GIVEAWAY IS FOR YOU!

I am speaking to those people out there who have not yet registered… those people vacillating between running…. not running… running… not running…

Those people not sure if they can do it.

Well I am here to tell you to stop wondering and say you can!

Jump on the bandwagon and get your 5K on! There is still plenty of time out there to train for a 5K even if you are starting from no running experience at all. Many 5K plans even incorporate lots of walking!

You might be thinking...

"Whatever. Like I am going to take advice from you. You’ve compelted two fulls, nine halfs, two I35 Challenges, and countless 5k and 10k races over the last 5 years. Like you understand where I am coming from?"

Guess what.

I actually do. I REALLY TRULY actually do.

Can I begin with the story of why I began running 6 years ago?

When I was 31 years old I gave birth to my 3^rd child in four years- yes three separately aged children in four years. Wowza. That time in my life is a bit of blur. And it was stressful. And it changed everything about my life, my schedule, my needs and my wants. 

It shook my world.

I was left with some serious baby weight and no time left in the day to lose it. 

I rarely found the time to shower daily, feed myself anything beyond what was left over on a red plastic Elmo plate as I scraped it into the trash, or leave the house with matching shoes on... Um, ya... Finding the time to attend my bi weekly, pre-baby bootcamp classes at the local YMCA was no longer an option. I very quickly realized that I would never again be able to go for my routine weekly two hour power walks with friends around the neighborhood either.

If I were going to stay active and maintain some sanity along the way, I was going to have to find a new exercise routine that didn't take long and burned calories fast.

Enter running.

At first running was awful. A W F U L. I had no idea how to do it, and no one had ever taught me about endurance. Growing up I was did not play many sports in high school, I hated gym class because I was not athletic, and always despised running or anything even close to it.

Fast-forward my life 20 or so years… 

As an adult with three young kids, I MAYBE had 30 minutes to spare a few days a week and I needed to get the most out of those 30 minutes that I could, which is why I started running.

It was really painful at first, but effective. I grew to be able to run further and lost the baby weight pretty quickly, even finding myself back at my high school weight (not something I had ever thought would happen!).

Painfully I kept adding in more and more distance- SLOWLY. Eventually I made it up to being able to run 1 mile, 2 miles, and even, a 5K. I actually ran my first official 5k race about a year later. It took me 31 minutes, but I was darn proud of my accomplishment! 

The girl who was always picked last in gym class had done it!

And this is where my story ends, but YOURS begins. 

YOUR STORY BEGINS HERE.

No matter the reason behind it, have you ever thought about running? 

Enter the Rafflecopter at the top of this page for a chance to win one of two FREE entries to the IMTDMM- any distance. Sure you can use the code for the half or even full marathon if you win, that's cool too. But you can use it for A LIFECHANGING FIRST INCREDIBLE 5 K. Giveaway ends Friday, September 6, 2019.