Resolution Champions: Introducing Katie

Each Wednesday, Martin’s will be following various employees (our Resolution Champions) in their journeys to reach their New Year’s goals. We hope this will inspire you to “Go for Your Goal” as well! Here is an introduction to our first Champion!

Hello! My name is Katie and I am a Marketing Coordinator here at Martin’s.

Finish Line at the Blue Cross Broad Street Run

Over the next couple of months I will be sharing my journey toward my goal of running in the Blue Cross Broad Street Run on May 3, 2015. To be honest, I’m really excited (and a bit apprehensive) about this. And here’s why:

Last year, Martin’s was a sponsor of the Broad Street Run, a 10-mile race through the heart of Philly. Since I am responsible for coordinating our event marketing here at Martin’s, I had the opportunity to be at the finish line of last year’s race. The event was incredibly successful for Martin’s and quite inspiring for me personally.

My Motivation

If you’ve never been to any sort of race, I would highly recommend it. It doesn’t matter how short or long the distance is, whether you are running or just cheering someone on; races exude this triumphant, uplifting atmosphere. Just being there makes you want to go out and achieve something, anything. I’ve always toyed with the idea of going out and running a long race (just to say I did), but it wasn’t until the Broad Street Run last year that I knew I needed to make that thought a reality.

When our marketing team decided to encourage people to “go for their goal,” we thought it would be cool to begin with Martin’s own employees. Throughout this discussion I somehow volunteered to run 10 miles.  My idea just kind of spewed out of my mouth before I really realized what I was signing myself up for, but here we are.

My History with Running (or Lack Thereof)

In the past, running has essentially been a warmup for me. I have been an athlete the majority of my life, playing volleyball from elementary school up through college and continuing to play and coach today. However, the farthest I have ever “run” was a Color Me Rad 5K, during which my friends and I ended up goofing off throughout the entire race, stopping to take pictures, and lagging through all of the color stations…so I definitely wouldn’t say I really “ran” those 3.1 miles.

Despite this, I have always considered myself to be in fairly good shape; someone who could go out and run a decent distance on a whim. However, I have discovered, this is not the case.

My Training Begins (Ouch!)

Ice in the mulch on Saturday morning

I began my 20 weeks of training this past weekend. I got up Saturday morning knowing I needed to run, only to wake up to the sound of sleet hitting my window. Despite the freezing cold and super slippery roads, I managed to maintain the motivation to get outside and run. I was huffing and puffing for the majority of the mile I ran (I’m telling myself this was because of how cold it was), at an embarrassingly slow speed (I’m telling myself this was because I didn’t want to slip and fall), and to top it all off I was sore the next day! (This one is hard to make up an excuse for.) In this moment, it definitely became apparent how much work I have ahead.

All in all, I am quite excited to share my journey with you. Every “hump day” I will be sharing my progress toward my goal – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Please feel free to share any comments, questions, and concerns with me (or Martin’s). Additionally, if you have a goal you are trying to achieve in 2015, we’d love to hear it! Feel free to connect with us socially on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, or via email at marketing@mfps.com!

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