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Renata is a Runner’s World+ member. Join her and thousands of others chasing their goals with day-by-day training plans, expert advice from editors and coaches, and unlimited digital access. We regularly feature members online and in print!
Since I started running again I feel re-energized. I have something I am passionate about that makes me happy and healthier, both mentally and physically. Through running I made new friends who motivate and support me and I became part of a running community. When life gets hard, running is the fun thing that I can do to take a break and just enjoy.
When I started receiving links to Runner’s World articles, I would start my day, every day, reading a couple articles. This provided a lot of useful information but also got me excited about going out to run. So I joined RW+ to continue getting the articles and to be able to search for other specific topics I am interested in.
Running makes me feel happy and relaxed. It is something I do for myself, to improve my fitness, challenge myself, and to de-stress. It also makes me part of a wonderful community and I enjoy the social aspect of it. In addition, it is so much fun tracking the training, planning future training, not to mention planning what races to enter. It is like getting a new toy every day!
I run in the mornings. That is when I have the most energy and no distractions and it sets the tone for my whole day. No matter what else happens that day I had my run done. I run different routes depending on the goals for the workout and how far I feel like driving for the run. One of my favorites, though, is a 2.5 mile running/walking path with rivers on both sides. It is pretty, peaceful, and has just enough other walkers and runners to avoid being boring.
I love my Garmin watch. I love all the statistics and being able to just run checking it for the pace or the distance I need for my goal for that run. I’m old enough to remember how I had to use my car or bicycle to plan out my route ahead of time and it was never really accurate and how for long runs all I could figure out is the average pace. With GPS watch it is so much easier and so much fun.