Greetings! Welcome to the Introvert’s Escape Maneuver, where I, Briana Symone, share the words that are floating around in my head.
This summer I’m doing a “Summer Writing Challenge” where I write and post 5 days a week.
This is week 2 of my summer writing challenge and I’m in Florida with the gorgeous sun hitting my face and the pollen choking me. My husband is back home taking care of our 3 fur babies and working his butt off as I take this much needed teacher vacay!
Today’s post will be a walk down memory lane, as I reminisce on my adult running journey. I’m intentionally calling it my “adult running journey” because I’ve actually been running for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I loved field day, running summer camps and I actually chose the high school I’d attend based on many factors, one of them being the presence of a track team.
In college, I’d visit my parent’s house and go on long runs whenever I felt like it. I would go on 7-10 mile runs just for fun. I loved running. It made me feel safe. It made me feel free. It made me feel like I was flying.
In high-school, I competed in the 200 and 400 meter dashes and 4 by 400-meter relay and the 4 by 200-meter relay. My favorite coaches were the volleyball and track coaches who pushed me to my physical limit. The track coach in particular often pushing me to the point of utter physical exhaustion. I remember believing that the end of a perfect track workout was signified by throwing up and laying out on the floor.
When I turned 25, I became sedentary in a way that was overwhelming and devastating. My constantly active lifestyle slowed to a complete stop. My job required me to sit for 8 hours behind a desk in a dingy room and my apartment complex didn’t have a gym or walkable sidewalks so the only physical activity I consistently kept up with was walking my dog in circles around my apartment building.
On top of that, my now husband—then boyfriend, was obsessed with breakfast food so whenever we got together we spent the morning stuffing our faces with a a great deal of pancakes, eggs and hash browns. As you might’ve guessed, the inevitable happened and due to my age and lifestyle choices, my lovely metabolism slowed down and I gained 20lbs in the span of 5 months.
One day I woke up in a body that felt absolutely foreign to me. I had no recollection of the journey to this body nor did I know what it was capable of.
In an effort to find myself, I tried a million things over the span of a year and a half including a 75-hard challenge right before my wedding, hot yoga (which I used to love but absolutely hated in my new body), dance YouTube video-workouts, a cucumber salad diet, and so much more. Despite a lot of effort, I wasn’t achieving the goals I set forth until I found the couch to 5k running plan.
The couch to 5k plan gave me the structure I needed to step outside of my normal schedule. The plan begins with running and walking and then transitions to eventually running a 5k. I started the plan in March of 2024 and schedule a celebratory 5k in May of 2024.
A lot has changed in a little over a year but I don’t believe I’ve taken enough time to really sit with myself and express true gratitude for the changes I’ve worked hard to achieve.
Yesterday, I ran a 5k with my mom and I pushed myself so hard. I decided to push myself because I was looking at my last few 5k race times and I realized that I hadn’t been really pushing myself to run fast. So let’s take a walk down memory lane from my first 5k after the couch to 5k plan up to yesterday’s 5k. I’m a data girly so below you’ll see the dates of some of my 5k races/practice runs with the total time it took me to complete the run and the average pace I ran each mile.
May, 16 2024: 35:52 minute total, average pace-11:32 minutes/mile
May 21, 2024: 32:51 minutes total, average pace-10:34 minutes/mile
May 27, 2024: 31:15 minutes total, average pace-10:03 minutes/mile
August 7, 2024: 32:18 minutes total, average pace-10:24 minutes/mile
October 19, 2024: 28:55 minutes total, average pace-9:18 minutes/mile
November 28, 2024: 30:20 minutes total, average pace-9:35 minutes/mile
January 1, 2025: 30:54 minutes total, average pace-10:02 minutes/mile
May 26, 2025: 34:07 minutes total, average pace-10:58 minutes/mile
Which leads me to yesterday’s race! Well guess what??? For the very first time, I won! I placed first in my age and gender category. I finished the 5k in 29 minutes with an average pace of 9 minutes and 21 seconds per mile. I am so immensely proud of myself. A year ago, I was actually taking a month long break from running due to runner’s knee from overtraining so each day I’m learning how to pace myself and listen to my body. Today, I’m giving myself grace because my 11 minute mile turned into a 10 minute mile and now I’m working to achieve a consistent 9 minute mile.
Today I am a better runner but most importantly I am a better inhabitant of this body! Truly, it took me quite a lot of patience, prayer, kind words and grace to get here but I’m deeply grateful for this journey.
This year, I challenged myself to sign up for one race a month and so far I’ve competed in a New Year’s Day 5k, a Hot Chocolate Run 15k, a 10k cave run, a parking lot half marathon (don’t ask lol), a 10k and 5k combo and finally, the 5k I received my first title of “winner”.
I spent 2024 remembering how much I love running and reminding myself that my body is strong and powerful. I spent many days feeling exhausted and depleted but I wouldn’t trade a single second of this journey. I ended 2024 by running my first half marathon in December and I couldn’t be more proud of myself.
If you’ve read this far, thanks for sticking around for my love letter to running.
Today, give yourself grace for wherever you are in this journey called life…you deserve it.
Xoxo, see ya tomorrow
The Introvert's Escape Maneuver 