Yep... I'm becoming one of "those people"...

Okay, I never thought I’d be one of “those people”. You know; that annoying person at work that says running is “fun”. He’s the guy that said that it is only while running that he can clear his mind and just focus on the task at hand. You remember when that guy said he CRAVES running? How freaking weird was that? What kind of masochist craves something that causes so much soreness and pain, craving an activity that has been known to cause heart attacks in otherwise healthy geriatric people?

Alright, I’m starting to get it… I’m not saying I’m fast; far from it, although I’m faster than I’ve been in a long time. Today I ran 2.8 miles in 38 minutes. No, I didn’t run the track or the treadmill, nope, my co-workers were horrible enough a few weeks ago to challenge me to jog the parking deck at work. We start at the top, jog all the way down and back up, that’s 1.4 miles. Then my dumb *kitten* does it again… I think it’s the feeling of triumph at the end, knowing I’m doing something not many attempt to do, let alone complete. I love knowing I’m getting faster and that it’s becoming easier.

Now I will preface by pointing out I’m not “running,” I’m jogging, at least it’s a jog to me; from the outside it probably looks more like a trot… In fact, with a pace of 4.4mph MFP doesn’t actually consider it “jogging” but instead lists my speed under walking a “very very brisk pace”. I was almost disheartened until I realized that a 13.5 minute mile was the best I’ve run in a long time, and I almost did three of them!!! **** what MFP says, I consider myself a jogger now.

I also have to admit that jogging and I are not a story of love at first sight… In fact, it was more like I was being forced to take the neighbor’s ugly daughter to prom. I dreaded it and only thought of how painful it was going to be, how it was not what I’d choose to do with my time. I would only do a minimal amount of cardio in my workouts, 5 minute warm up and then on to some strength training. Even the 5 minutes hurt my feet and ankles, my shorts would ride up and I’d be embarrassed that I was constantly reaching to my crotch to pull them out of the no man’s land between my thighs and the twig-n-berries. A friend suggested I try the elliptical trainer, “Its low-impact,” they said. LOW IMPACT MY *kitten*!!! I couldn’t do more than 5 minutes without my calves and knees screaming at me in agony. I went back to the treadmill. Over time I worked my way up to walking a half mile to warm-up for strength training. On cardio days I would do 1.5 miles or on days I was really feeling it I’d do 2 miles, always walking, never really pushing it.

I eventually got back on the elliptical, one day the treadmills were in use and I’d done strength the day before so this was a cardio day and the elliptical was the only option.

I had a breakthrough… I was still having pain, but it became bearable. I told myself I was going to do a mile on that elliptical no matter what, I turned on some Linkin Park Pandora (an excellent workout selection if you haven’t tried it before) and I just kept my legs moving until I hit it. From that point on the elliptical was my new muse in the gym, after 2 weeks it stopped hurting and I just sweated. I thought I had found the right cardio exercise I would stay with for the rest of my weight loss journey (I was also throwing in some P90X for cardio on other days) and then my coworkers prodded me to “run the deck”.

I admit I was frightened, I don’t look like much of a runner, 5’11’’, 325lbs (at the time, I’m now down to 320lbs ;-p) and I never felt like much of a runner even when I looked better. But, I was committed to an upcoming 5k and knew I needed to train for it, so what the hell, right?

It was freaking AMAZING!!! The first time I did it I only did 1.5 times; ran all the way down and back up and then back down. The only time I really jogged was on the way down the first time. The pain was HUGE, my calves and shins were not used to the impact and they were mad at me for using them in this new and challenging way. I actually enjoyed the pain a little. I knew I was pushing my body more than I had actually ever pushed it. The next time I did it (2 days later) I went ahead set out to jog all the way down the first time and then jog the flat sections and walk the inclines. I was faster now, I had already conquered this damn thing, it no longer scared me, I could defeat it any time and any way I wanted to now…

So now that is my routine, I jog the deck twice a week and do strength training (with 10-15 minutes on the elliptical to warm up) 2-3 times a week a week. I find myself WANTING to jog the deck instead of dreading it, I push myself harder than I used to… harder than I really ever have… I am loving the burn from the deck, and I find myself wanting to jog at other times that I’m walking.

I said before that when I first started walking/jogging was like having to take the neighbor’s ugly daughter to prom; not how I wanted to spend my time and dreading it above all else. Now jogging is like finding out the neighbor’s daughter had a complete makeover, puts out on the first date, and knows all the naughty things a girl her age shouldn’t… I’m in love…