I have a secret… I’ve been running.
It started after I got to Thursday and realized that I hadn’t been outside since Sunday except to put up the flag and take out the trash. That can’t be healthy. So I set a goal of running once a week for three weeks. And I use “running” loosely. I decided it was ok if I didn’t run the whole way and I’d only go down to the stoplight and back (1.6 miles.) Even a brisk walk would be healthier than nothing, right?
Let’s back up even more and talk about my previous experiences with running. It started my freshman year of high school when our baseball coach would make us run around the border of our big high school property. If the entire team didn’t do 8 minute miles then the entire team had to run again. Clearly that was just a gimmick to make us run until he got bored. Miserable. We got a new coach sophomore year and that promptly ended but I’d still end up running laps around the field every day after I pitched to theoretically speed up recovery. In college, I thought I’d be healthy and I went out running around campus. I ended up feeling like I was going to vomit. Then I tried it again when I lived out in Jersey with pretty much the same reaction. So no, I don’t like running.
But I knew I could walk that far and jog part of it so why not. My main excuse for not doing stuff like this before was that I didn’t know where it would fit in my day, and now that I’m working from home, it’s a lot easier. So I got up and went for it.
And you know what? It wasn’t that bad. I was super tired and sweaty and sore and embarrassed at the extent of all that considering I only ran/walked 1.6 miles and my form is probably all wrong and I wonder what people thought when they saw my goofy excuse for running… but I was proud of myself for actually doing it. I did it again, and again (in the rain!), and then today I finally did the whole distance without walking and I didn’t feel like I was going to die at the end.
I’m not going to win any races with a pace up close to 10 minutes, but I’m doing it and each time it gets a little easier. Plus it’s also really nice to be out in this beautiful summer weather instead of stuck behind my computer.
I don’t know if I’ll ever fall in love with running, but I think we are making a truce for a while and who knows, maybe I’ll even run an 8-minute mile. (Just one though. I’m not delusional.)
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