Hockey player turning into a runner! (It is possible TRUST ME)

By Ashley Paulson

I will be running my first half-marathon April 28th in Nashville with a bunch of seasonal runners and I couldn't be more excited!  I set a goal for myself this year to transition from a hockey player who is built to go for 30 seconds and get hit A LOT into a lean mean running machine! My training has been a challenge for me since at the beginning of the year I could only run 10 minutes and get bored or tired to now being able to run 1 hour with no problem and enjoying it!  I have to credit my success to the running group and Dana Neer here at Culver.  Without all the support from that group I might still be running 10 minutes and calling it a quits!  I’m looking forward to seeing my race time at the finish line and being able to say I completed a half-marathon and didn’t die!


Hockey player to Runner! COMPLETED!

Today is Monday morning and my legs are fully functional today! I completed my first half-marathon on Saturday in Nashville! Let me tell you Nashville is a hilly city and a hot one! I had an awesome time even though I saw more hills than I wanted and experienced 80 degree heat when this northerner is used to 50 degrees right now. Now to the running! This race was huge! 30,000 people and the start line just looked like a sea of people! I felt pretty good until mile 9 when the hills and the heat got the best of me and I had to slow down to just keep going.  My time was 2 hours 25 minutes and that was slower than I wanted (which means I HAVE to do another one to get under 2 hours!) but I’m just glad I finished and didn’t pass out! I’m happy to cross this one off my bucket list and move onto my Tough Mudder training!