Training Run #3/Why I'm running

So I haven't been the best blogger over the last few days- I had a semi-busy weekend, but mostly I just didn't feel like getting my laptop out from when I left work on Friday until today! the beauty of my iPhone is that I can still check my email and I don't have to turn my laptop on, which is really nice.

So I'll start with a running update- I was a running MACHINE this weekend. Saturday I ran on my own and did about 2.5 miles. Then on Sunday we had our 3rd group run and went for about 50 minutes- just shy of 4 miles total. That is the farthest I've ever run, and I was definitely feeling it a bit on Sunday evening, but I felt great during the run, which was really encouraging because each slight increase in distance hasn't been that difficult!

So finally, here's the story of how/why I'm RUNNING. I was always that kid in Elementary and Jr High School who was slow. You know the one, holding up the back of the pack when you'd have to do the physical fitness test and do the mile run. I had asthma as a kid and would usually run about 3/4 of the first lap and then get shooting pains in my side and have to stop to walk. This would lead to whatever PE Teacher was out there that day to start yelling "come on Polk- no walking!" Needless to say, I hated it. I hate not being good at stuff, and I was never good at running. I distinctly remember being in 5th grade at Spicewood Elementary, and we all had to run the mile in under 10 minutes. To most athletic kids, this was not a problem. Now, I was a pretty athletic kid- I played softball and basketball (though not very well, I'll admit,) I took dance lessons, I played outside all the time. I wasn't really a couch potato. I was a really fast sprinter, I just was not such a fast runner. And 10 minute miles did me in- I just couldn't do them. I remember that year, in 5th grade, me and 1 other kid didn't finish in 10 minutes, and we had to redo it, and I was really embarrassed. I kind of resigned myself then and there that I was no a runner. I might be a lot of other things, but I would NEVER be a runner.

So I just kind of stopped trying- I didn't do things that required running distances. I was a cheerleader (short sprints at most) and played golf (zero running) through high school. Then in college, I became a bit of a couch potato. I'm lucky because I have high metabolism and haven't really HAD to exercise to stay relatively thin, and I think I took advantage of that. I remember one time in college, my roommate Brooke talked me into going for a jog, and I just about died. I don't think we probably even went a mile and I was DONE. Right about then, I decided "hey, I'm thin- I don't really need to work out." Pure laziness, I know. But I took advantage of it for the past few years, just because I could. I kind of had this mentality of "It won't always be like this- I'm not going to be thin without having to work for it- I should enjoy it while I can." Completely insane, I know, but the things we do to justify our laziness.

So over the last few years, I've had the opportunity to watch a couple friends (Mary Lauren and Faith) run marathons, and last year I watched Pat complete a Triathlon. Every time I've cheered my friends on, a little voice inside my head has said "you could never do anything like that. You're not a runner, you're just not made for something like that." But I am always so awe-inspired, watching completely ordinary people do something that I find completely extraordinary, and I've always secretly wished I could do it, I think, I've just used the excuse that "I don't run."

Well, about 8 months ago, we did this whole team-building thing with work with this guy that we all call Dr. Drew. It was this 2 day seminar with everyone I work with, and part of it was an exercise in goal setting. The goals didn't have to be work specific, they could be anything as long as they were S.M.A.R.T goals. I'm not sure what made me decide to do it- there were plenty of other work-related goals I could have picked. But I decided that it was kind of pathetic that I was a near-30 year old woman who couldn't go out and run a mile. And frankly, that I had NEVER been able to just go out and run a mile. So I decided, then and there, the first week of October that I was going Run a 5k (specific and measurable and hopefully attainable and realistic) by Christmas (timely.) I decided it didn't matter at all how fast I did it, I just wanted to finish. And I wanted to run it, even if my running was barely faster than a walk. To be totally honest, part of me really thought I couldn't do it- I wasn't a runner, after all, but I thought it was worth a shot.

Pat helped me find a really great 8-week training plan online, and I just made the decision then and there that I was going to do it, even if I hated it. The great thing about the training plan was that it was all about baby steps. It focused on a combination of a little running with a lot of walking at first, and gradually built up the running each week. It was 30 minutes, 3 times a week, and I figured I could do ANYTHING for 30 minutes, even if I hated it. My friend Stephanie wrote this great blog a couple weeks ago and has this great quote by Confucius in it that I have always loved "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." It is kind of how I felt last October- just one step at a time until I can do it.

That first step, the first time I got off the couch was the hardest, but they proceeded to get easier as I realized the most beautiful thing about running- that it is just me. I don't have to keep up with anyone else- I don't have 5th grade pressure anymore to finish a mile in 10 minutes. If I am running 20 minute miles, that is completely fine- I just want to finish. And a crazy thing happened- I started to like it. Oh yeah, there are still plenty of moments during a run that I completely hate the physical act of running- my side will start to hurt still, and I'll be short of breath and my legs will ache. But I absolutely love the way I feel AFTER I'm done running, and that helps me enjoy the process of running. And I've learned that I can slow down, or stop and walk if I want- I'm not being judged on anyone else's running scale but my own, and that helps me to run in a way that I enjoy.

So on a beautiful Saturday morning at the beginning of December, I finished the Santa Monica Christmas 5k. I ended up running about 12.5 minute miles, I think, and I stopped and walked once, which I'm OK with in the end, because I enjoyed myself the whole time. There is nothing else like running a race- being part of the crowd at the start, and then running along city streets that are normally packed with cars, taking in the sights. And there is a great sense of accomplishment when you finish- I was so ridiculously proud of myself. Compared with the longer endurance events I've watched, my little 5k wasn't much, but it was a great start for me. It changed my whole view on running- I thought I'd hated it and could never do it- but hey- I just ran a 5k and it wasn't that hard. Maybe I could run farther, longer if I just put a little more effort into it.

So here we are, about 5 months after that first 5k. I kept running, but realized that I need goals to really stay motivated. I decided back in March that I would like to run a half marathon. That seemed really do-able- it is only a little more than 4 5ks. I knew I'd be much more likely to actually do it if I trained with a group, though, which is how I found TNT. And the crazy folks at TNT had me convinced in no time that I could do a full marathon- that it wasn't that hard if you just put the time and training in. And for the first time in my life, I actually believed them- that ANYONE could run a marathon if they tried. And I figured, why not? Why not try to do what a year ago I would have called impossible. Why not set the bar higher than I ever imagined. Me- the girl who can't run.

I'm happy to say that I'm down to 10:49 in my mile time- I still wouldn't pass the 5th grade physical fitness requirements, but frankly, I don't really care. It isn't about being fast anymore, it's just about being and improving and feeling good. And in my training runs with TNT, I'm certainly not in the fastest group, but I'm not in the slowest, either. There are all kinds of athletes of all ages and all body types and ethnicity, and I really like that. And none of them look at me the way I've looked at myself- as "not a runner." I'm one of them, I'm a runner, and I like that. We run the Sunday runs at a conversational pace, and who knew- I love running and talking! It makes the time go by so much faster- the key is to find people who are OK going the speed you're going. We've been doing reps of 4 minutes running, 1 minute walking. I think we will gradually build up to longer amounts of running between minutes of walking, but all the groups (even the fastest one) does some walking, because apparently it is a much healthier way to do a marathon- it helps your body use different muscles and sustains itself longer. So maybe 5th grade Amy, with her walk-breaks built in to the mile was just ahead of her time!