I had a really great run tonight and I just wanted to leave this week on a positive note before tomorrow's weigh in. It was a little after eight this evening and I had just finished catching up with my regular blog reading when I decided I felt like going for a run. I actually felt like having a jog last night but Marco convinced me we would go together tonight instead. Tonight he was singing a different tune but I didn't let it stop me.
It's been getting dark here quite a bit earlier so I decided to leave the Ipod at home just to be safer. I live in a nice neighborhood and jog in a pretty busy place but you just never know what kind of whack jobs are out there. It's been drizzling on and off so the road was pretty deserted so luckily I had made the right decision. Better safe than dead I always say! Well actually I don't always say that because, well, it's just a silly thing to say but I digress.
I put on my trusty pedometer and sped off at a turtles pace, just a bit quicker than a snail. I felt like I had pretty good form (read: I didn't resemble Phoebe from Friends). It was chilly out and the cold air stung my lungs like a swarm of little oxygen bees. I assumed after I was going for a while that would go away and I was right.
The thing with me is that I'm not a runner. I've never been a runner. I've never read about running. I've never been taught to run. I know nothing about it. I do remember watching other runners thinking "how in the world do they do that?They just keep going! Doesn't that hurt?" but other than that I really never gave running more than a passing thought. So it's not like when I go out for a run I really have a plan of action. I run until one of two things happen, either my legs give out or my lungs give out. Usually it's my lungs that throw in the towel and tonight was no different.
I did play a little game with myself along the way. It was the "how long can you go without looking at the pedometer" game (coming to a toy store near you!). At the gym I always have the problem that the more I look at my distance and time the slower they both seem to go. Running outside the gym isn't much different so I don't wear a watch and my pedometer is kept out of sight. So I played the game and did pretty well. I didn't look at the pedometer until 1.7 kilometers which is a little bit over a mile. This glance coincided with my lungs burning, a dizzy feeling and my side and chest seizing. All surefire signs that you should probably slow down.
I took my turtles pace down to a snails walk and caught my breath. I walked about 75 feet and decided I felt pretty darned good. I picked back up where I left off and continued to jog the rest of the way home. It was a grand total of 2.55 kilometers or 1.58 miles by time I reached our doorstep. It's not much for those who run long distances but for me it's phenomenal.
I think I may join the Couch to 5K program that so many women I know rave about. Can you imagine me running a 5K race? I'm a 234 pound woman right now. The thought gives me goosebumps, in a good way. Me, running in a race. What a great goal. What a great accomplishment it could be. What great motivation. In my first race I could wear a shirt that says "I'm a 5K Virgin" or some other (more) clever saying and on the back my "rock bottom picture" with my weight loss so far. Hmmm. I'm a little excited. We shall see what comes of this idea!
2 comments:
That is a GREAT non-scale victory! Fantastic work tonight!
I just recently started running (more like slowly jogging at this point) with hopes of being in a race at some point. I, too, have never been a runner and have no idea what I'm doing. I figure as long as I keep moving and don't have people pointing and laughing at me, I must not look too much like a dork. Good luck on your progress!
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