Monday, May 19, 2008

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!

4 comments:

RunningNan said...

We are the poster children for the C25K! Way to go

Diana Swallow said...

I'm so amazed and inspired by your C25K progress. You can put in a DVD and give it half an effort and not get a good workout, walking and running are measured in both distance AND time, you know when you're cheating yourself with this kind of workout and I think that makes the sense of fulfillment that much stronger.

Grumpy Chair said...

You are doing just great! You will be running that first mile without stopping in no time.

And did you think when you were running around that track at age 43 and hating every minute of it, that 8 years later, you would be training to run a 5K and loving it?!

Manuela said...

I was the same way about running "only if something big with sharp teeth was chasing me"!

I finished the program and am running 35 minutes or so. I can't wait to sign up for a 5K.

WE ROCK!