Why I Always Hated Running...Part Two....

It's Monday ~the beginning of a new week (well, technically Sunday starts the week - but it's part of the weekend so....whatever!) and I'm ready to start my next set of longer runs today!

I find it so very strange that I am excited about this exercise now! Before I would cringe knowing it was the day to do my DVD or whatever it was I was subjecting myself to during my brief but well intended exercise regimes. But this time it's different. I look forward to challenging myself and am always amazed that I did it!

I will admit- the thought of actually running a whole 5k seems daunting to me. When I returned to college 8 years ago to finish my teaching degree - I found myself in a phys ed class that was required. There was no way I could wiggle out of it and believe me I tried! Reason being - you had to run in this class. It was ALL about running. You sat for a half hour lecture 3 times a week and then they sent you to the track in the gym and you had to run a mile. No kidding. A WHOLE mile! And you were timed. And your grade was based on your time! How stupid is THAT! SO her I was...43 years old at the time - running around a track with kids who had just graduated high school and I was freaking being TIMED! Can I just suffice to say it was horrible? I would pant and gasp and have to stop and walk a lot. I'm not sure what my times ever were because frankly I tried to block that part of my college career out of my mind.

Here's the thing. Being the perfectionist I am, I wanted an A in that class. I'd gotten A's in every class I'd taken so far. I wasn't going to let this stupid class ruin my GPA even though it was totally unfair and unrealistic. But I did my best . (Did I mention a the time I weighed 30 pounds less than I do now?) Towards the end of the semester - my joints were killing me. I think I'd pulled every muscle I had, I could barely walk sometimes! So at a routine OBGYN exam, I begged the Dr. to give me a written excuse. As to why I needed stop the running. An she did. (God bless her.) I told my teacher that I would spend the time in the fitness room doing anything but running. She relented but she didn't seem happy. But.....I got my A!

A footnote to this story - my other older friends at school (we'd all found each other...that happens when you're the odd men out) who were also taking this same course with a different teacher - were EXEMPT from running because of their age! I had to be the one who got Hitler as a teacher.... ARGHH!

Anyway - my point to this is that now I'm doing the exact thing I'd grown to hate - and enjoying it! Why? Because I'm easing into it. I'm letting my body take it slowly. The time increases are just enough to challenge - yet not intimidate too much. My teacher at college should've known that. You don't dump someone who hasn't run in 20 years onto a track with no warm up, stretching or anything and then say run a mile as fast s you can and if you run fast enough you get a good grade!

That's' why Cto5K is so great. But enough of that. I'm starting to sound like a commercial. But I do want to say thanks to my fellow bloggers who gently encouraged me to give this a try. I listened. I watched your progress. And then I tried it. And...you were all right!

On a side note...youngest daughter (we affectionately call her Yellie) went home yesterday *sigh* I miss her already. It was just like old times for a while there with her stuff strewn all over the house, the bathroom a mess, dishes in the sink..... Am I complaining? No way! (She's actually a very neat little housekeeper at her own place). It was just good to be in "Mom Mode" again. She's such sweetie. I lover her to pieces. I love all my daughters to pieces (and my son-in-laws too!)

I'm off for another cup of coffee now. Make this a great week!