I guess I run now

Day 34 Crappy Run! I’m all excuses about this one too: 10.5 hour drive yesterday, didn’t get to the gym until 1:00 and I’m better in the morning, running in a different gym than normal. Mostly, though, I think the problem is my incredibly wimpishness. Okay, here’s how this one broke down: walked .15, ran 1 mile, walked .1, ran .75 miles, realized I was wimping out on speed (kept fluctuating between 4.0 & 4.6 and really favoring 4.0, so ran the last .25 on 5.0, walked another .25. This wasn’t bad, but I never got my rhythm going, never hit that moment when things clicked & the running became easy, never felt really in control of the run. & I couldn’t wait to get off of the damn treadmill, so I stopped at 2.5 on the nose. Think I’ll take the dog for a nice long walk this afternoon!

Day 33 first 2 mile run! Fun one!

Day 32 Looking at houses first thing in the morning & I didn’t get to the gym on time for a full 5k, so I just walked .15, ran 1.75, and walked .1 and called it good. I had a bit of a tougher time with the run than the last two days…really had to push myself to do the full 1.75 miles this time & my second wind — or second resolve — didn’t kick in until around minute 18. Oh well, at least I did it.

Day 31 Went back to the gym, making sure Tuesday’s run wasn’t some kind of fluke. & it wasn’t, apparently. I guess I run 25 minutes (in a row!) now. So .15 warm up walk, 1.75 run, 5 min walk, 5 min run, 4 min walk, & a run to beat the band at the end (note: for me, “beating the band” is starting at a speed of 4.4 & working up to 4.8…so, maybe “beating the four-piece ensemble” or even just “beating the piano player” would be more appropriate here). Then I finished off with a short cool down walk…”cool down walk” is also a misleading phrase as it typically takes about an hour before the red in my face fully disappears after a run

Day 30 I figure my goal for this week is to stop thinking in terms of time & just run for a full mile. Fine. So I hit the treadmill, walk for .15 and start running. As I’m running, I’m thinking, “okay, if I can’t make it, I can shoot for a run of just .85, which will put me at a mile total.” So I get to that point, a full mile with only .85 of running. And I think, “come on, just push through to a mile.” And, of course, I’m thinking about being able to tell ya’ll–who are always pushing through, who are always, well, going the extra mile with your workouts–that I finally did it. So I did it. And then I saw that I was only about 6 minutes from running for 20 minutes strait. & I felt good. So I did it. And then I saw how close I was to running a full 1.5 miles, so I pushed on through. And I did it. And then I saw how close I was to running for 25 minutes, so I pushed on through & I did it! A 25-minute run covering 1.77 miles! Yay me! Finished up with a 5-min walk, 5-min run, 4-min walk, and a run at 4.6-4.8 to finish out the 5k.