I have ALWAYS wanted to be a runner. When I was in the 7th grade I tried out
for track, made the team, but was unable to continue because of the afterschool
runs and not having a ride home from school. After highschool I would give a
treadmill a go and would be so intimidated by just about everything that I never
pursued it. I tried to start running in January of this year, but was WAY to
gung ho (i felt like i should just start off running 2 miles at a time) and
ended up giving myself double shin splints that took two months to recover.
So finally I tried again with C25K this fall. I was not born an amazing runner.
I irked it out of myself, 30 seconds at a time. i tell myself, 30 more seconds, 30 more seconds.
I lie to myself, i say, "oh you have probably been running for 20 minutes now, it will be just a little bit further. (8 minutes into the run)
I yell at myself sometimes. (in my head of course, I'm not too crazy.)
I beat myself up.
I encourage myself.
I think of myself getting my Polar Bear Plunge medal on January 1st. (my first 5k!!) I think up outlandish scenarios of people driving by and being jealous of me.
I bribe myself.
I do anything I can to keep running.
The past 2 weeks (week 7) gave me a crisis of faith. I was done with intervals. But why? Intervals and I are friends. We got this. Intervals and I are going to be in each others weddings. You want me to just DO AWAY with intervals?? I dont know if i can do that! And I really didn't. All of my tricks weren't working anymore. I would get 15 minutes into the run and just stop. Finally my friend Sarah suggested for me to just walk a minute, and then pick it up again. So i said alright, she generally is smarter than me, and I did it. So it took me 2 weeks, but I got through week 7.
Today I was starting week 8. I felt confident. I mean i HAVE to get this down right! I have my first 5k in a month! I need to be lean, mean, and crazy. (i signed up for a run that i will be jumping into freezing cold swimming pools. THREE of them) So I start off. I do my five minutes of walking and settle into my rhythm. What I did differently this time, was I started off meandering. Running every which way that I felt like. I took no specific path. Then i finally settled on a loop. It was smaller than the loop I am used to running, but it was a steady curve, and I wasn't facing into the sun and wind for too long of a time. I ended up losing track of the loops after 6, a few laps later i realized i did and lost count again after another 6. My guess is i did 15 laps around this place, maybe closer to 20.
I started to head back to the building and my asthma was starting to kick up. I wasn't coughing yet, but i could feel the wheezing. I snuck out my phone for the very first peak at my time left. (my countdown on my phone and i have a love/hate relationship) I glanced, ONLY TWO MINUTES LEFT! I felt elation! I felt on top of the world! Two minutes is nothing! So i ran out the last 2 minutes, finished on cloud 9, and ran for 28 minutes STRAIGHT. My previous longest distance running withouut a break was 18 minutes.
I knew I had it in me. I just had to believe in myself while I was doing it. I had to be confident. So it may have took a little lying, cussing, encouraging, and bribing (i am going to have pizza for dinner HA) but i FINISHED DANG IT! And Ii have arrived!!
So finally I tried again with C25K this fall. I was not born an amazing runner.
I irked it out of myself, 30 seconds at a time. i tell myself, 30 more seconds, 30 more seconds.
I lie to myself, i say, "oh you have probably been running for 20 minutes now, it will be just a little bit further. (8 minutes into the run)
I yell at myself sometimes. (in my head of course, I'm not too crazy.)
I beat myself up.
I encourage myself.
I think of myself getting my Polar Bear Plunge medal on January 1st. (my first 5k!!) I think up outlandish scenarios of people driving by and being jealous of me.
I bribe myself.
I do anything I can to keep running.
The past 2 weeks (week 7) gave me a crisis of faith. I was done with intervals. But why? Intervals and I are friends. We got this. Intervals and I are going to be in each others weddings. You want me to just DO AWAY with intervals?? I dont know if i can do that! And I really didn't. All of my tricks weren't working anymore. I would get 15 minutes into the run and just stop. Finally my friend Sarah suggested for me to just walk a minute, and then pick it up again. So i said alright, she generally is smarter than me, and I did it. So it took me 2 weeks, but I got through week 7.
Today I was starting week 8. I felt confident. I mean i HAVE to get this down right! I have my first 5k in a month! I need to be lean, mean, and crazy. (i signed up for a run that i will be jumping into freezing cold swimming pools. THREE of them) So I start off. I do my five minutes of walking and settle into my rhythm. What I did differently this time, was I started off meandering. Running every which way that I felt like. I took no specific path. Then i finally settled on a loop. It was smaller than the loop I am used to running, but it was a steady curve, and I wasn't facing into the sun and wind for too long of a time. I ended up losing track of the loops after 6, a few laps later i realized i did and lost count again after another 6. My guess is i did 15 laps around this place, maybe closer to 20.
I started to head back to the building and my asthma was starting to kick up. I wasn't coughing yet, but i could feel the wheezing. I snuck out my phone for the very first peak at my time left. (my countdown on my phone and i have a love/hate relationship) I glanced, ONLY TWO MINUTES LEFT! I felt elation! I felt on top of the world! Two minutes is nothing! So i ran out the last 2 minutes, finished on cloud 9, and ran for 28 minutes STRAIGHT. My previous longest distance running withouut a break was 18 minutes.
I knew I had it in me. I just had to believe in myself while I was doing it. I had to be confident. So it may have took a little lying, cussing, encouraging, and bribing (i am going to have pizza for dinner HA) but i FINISHED DANG IT! And Ii have arrived!!
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