What now, bitches?

I reluctantly went for a run today--I've been having trouble finding motivation for about a week--but I'm glad I did, because I accomplished my first goal!!!! Ran that mile like it was nobody's business. And my time wasn't bad for an out of shape non-runner like myself: slightly less than or equal to 9 minutes. I only had my iPod so I don't know a precise time.

It really sucked. I wasn't sure towards the end if I was going to make it, and when I did and stopped to walk I was seeing spots. But I'm so excited. I was worried that I would have to walk the rest of the way home (about half a mile) but I only had to walk a little, and I ran nearly the rest of the way home.

I've never run a mile without stopping. I am awesome.

My next goal is to expand my route a little at a time. The next route I've chosen is 1.8 miles, although I'm questioning the safety of part of it due to the narrow shoulder and heavy traffic. We'll see. In a week or two I'll find a 2 mile route, and from that point I'll run for 30 minutes each time and work on getting further each time.

Now I have to finish the intellectual equivalent of running that mile-read the remainder of the 70 pages for history I need to finish today. Help!

closing in on my first goal!

On Thursday I posted that I was stoked to run 4 minutes without stopping for a little walking break. That got me half a mile into my route. Today, I surprised myself by running for nearly 6 minutes without stopping, and getting myself to the 3/4 mile mark! My estimation is that I will reach my goal (running one mile without stopping) at some point next week. Yowza!!

There has to be a life lesson in this somewhere. Like, YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU SET YOUR MIND TO! Or something. I'm not a runner, never have been. Well, actually, I guess I am a runner now. Even in middle school, when I was super active (biking, roller-skating, generally playing outside until the streetlights came on) I was awful at the mile during the presidential fitness test. I would start running, and then less than halfway around one lap on that goddamn track I would start wheezing and have to walk. I got lapped like crazy. Even when I would use an inhaler beforehand, I just sucked. Now I can run the equivalent of 3 laps around that bitch like a pro. Or 12 laps around the indoor gym! I'm awesome!

You'd better believe I'll brag on here immediately when I conquer that mile. Probably immediately after the run, before I take a shower.

greatest runner ever

I went on the most kick-ass run today. I found a new route from my new apartment on Monday (something I'm a little crabby about--I liked my old running route!) and it seems okay. On Tuesday, the combination of gorgeous weather and Salt-N-Pepa on my ipod made me cocky and I decided to run further. This seemed like a mistake as soon as I turned around and started heading home, because I was farther away than I'm used to and had been running at too fast a pace (I couldn't help it--Shoop came on!) so I was really tired. That's the hardest thing about running without Dan there as my coach--it's really hard to reign myself in and slow it down. I run until my breathing starts to get a little uncomfortable, and then I choose a point in the distance where I will take a little walking break, and then my natural instinct is to run as fast as I can to that spot so that I can walk sooner. What I'm learning (slowly. very slowly.) is that if I run slower, I can probably run past that stopping point. So I'm working on it. When I got home from the run, I felt quite proud of myself, so I decided to just run that far from now on.

So anyway, I set out today and found a really good pace, and I ran and ran until I couldn't run anymore. When I took a walking break, I checked my time and saw that I had run for 4 minutes! That may not seem like much to all of you seasoned runners out there, but when I started running, I had to take a break after 30 seconds, so that is huge. And I forgot to use my inhaler before I ran, so I could have potentially run even farther! BUT THAT'S NOT THE BEST PART! I finished the whole run (which is 1.5 miles) in 14 minutes, which averages my time at 9:20/mile. !!! Also, when I was checking the mileage in the car afterwards, I discovered that the point where I stopped after 4 minutes was half a mile. That means I'm the fastest runner in the entire world! I do think that today was kind of a fluke. I have a feeling that when I go out tomorrow, my pace is going to more likely be 10:something. But we'll see.

I wish I hadn't had to take almost 2 weeks off of running, I'd probably be running 2 minutes miles by now :)

It's crazy how much I'm improving. I mean, I couldn't have been much worse to begin with, but I've been running for just under 2 months and I have gotten so much better. Don't get me wrong, it's still hard as hell, and I only love running when I'm not doing it. Like, right now? Love it! And I can't wait to go out tomorrow. But talk to me during the run. There are some freeking awful days where the run is just so miserable. But there are also days like today, where I kick major ass, and a lot of in-between days that aren't so bad. AND I'm halfway to my first goal of running a mile without stopping.