The Beginning…
On December 29, 2011 I was sitting in a hotel room in Tokyo Japan hovering over my laptop creating my blog while my little girl slept in the next room.
I had been traveling for two months in the U.S. visiting family and trying to kill time while my husband was deployed to Afghanistan (total of 7 months).
My Favorite Running Buddies!
It was almost New Years and I was consumed by the idea of making a list of New Years Resolutions for 2011! I know, I know…who ever sticks to resolutions anyhow?!
While I was stuck in the spare room of my parent’s house for 6 weeks of my U.S. travels I entertained myself with trips to the local library. (When in doubt – read!) There I found a book called “Living Oprah” written by Robyn Okrant. This author challenged herself to live an entire year following all of the guidance that Oprah Winfrey dishes out through her magazine, TV show, and on her website. Robyn set some basic rules like having to read the magazines from cover-to-cover, watching the TV show everyday (even if she had to record it). If anything were recommended as a “must have” she would have to buy it. She kept impeccable records. One such record was an ongoing task list of “to-do’s” or “in progress” items as well as a list of the costs and how much time she spent following the Oprah lifestyle. If you want to know how the book ends follow my affiliate link above and purchase the book from Amazon! You won’t be disappointed – I assure you!
This book truly motivated and inspired me to do my own year-long challenge. I would call it “Living Runner’s World” (yeah, I know…original right?!) and it would be my one year journey. I wanted to see if it was truly possible for an average person (a mom, college student, wife, female runner) – ME – to follow all the guidance dished out by Runner’s World and still have time for…well, LIFE!
My Little Girl!
Through my blog I planned on keeping track of my everyday progress on training, nutrition, and everything in between – including any and all products bought on the recommendations of RW.
Over the 2011 year I planned to use only the resources provided to me by RW.
–Magazine Subscription
–Website membership
–All the RW books I could find on Amazon.com
The idea was: If they wrote it or promote it, I could use it!
I planned on starting with a 5K training plan (since I was just getting back into running post-baby) and working my way up from there. Follow their guidance on training for a 10K, half-marathon and then end the year with a full marathon. I thought the Marine Corp Marathon would be fitting – until I found out they run it at night here so that it goes at the same time as the one in DC.
Of course – here – being Okinawa Japan. So all of my training would take place in the Asia Pacific region. With my husband being deployed I welcomed the opportunity to have something that kept me focused.
Also, I was very excited to potentially be encouraging fellow female runners and fellow mother runners to lace up their shoes and hit the pavement, treadmills and trails with me!
You’re probably wondering right about now – How did Living Runner’s World turn into There She Goes…
Well, by week 5 of my master plan – I was sidelined by my first injury! I experienced an overuse injury to my quads and posted about it on February 8, 2011.
After this painful experience I decided to hire a trainer, listen to my body, throw out most of my Living Runner’s World challenge and just recover. I decided I couldn’t very well call this website Living Runner’s World if I was infact not following their advice anymore – so I just decided to make it about my journey to train for my first marathon while juggling the life of a wife, mother, and student living overseas!
I hope you decide to follow along with me! I have learned so much already and am always sharing new recipes, gear I have tested, books I’ve read and much much more! To learn more about SARAH read “Simply Sarah“
You never know what I'll be doing!