A Quick Story

So, I set myself a plethora of goals for January, and last night i had one lonely goal remaining... to run a sub 10 minute mile.
On Monday I went into the gym for a strength workout and as I was heading in, I felt like a monster. Impossibly strong and motivated, ready to completely run over my workout like nothing. I even ended up doing an extra half hour of cardio at the end because I felt so good.

But last night, heading into my run, I felt so much more timid. I was nervous. Even scared a little. Failing sucks. I knew what i was about to do was going to be intense and that throughout the process my mind was going to try to bargain with me.

So I go in, I bike a mile to warm up, then start stretching.

As I'm sitting there on the floor, pullin' on my toes... I hear, from my left,, by the treadmills, a weird high pitched grunt.

I turn my head just in time to see a guy, only a few years older than me and in much better shape, flying off the back of the treadmill and slamming into the stair mills behind him...

I start a bit freaked and worried about the guy, i don't want anything bad to happen to anyone... but it's obvious as he scoops himself up that the thing he hurt most was his ego. A trainer goes over to check on him... and on the way back, because I'm infinitely curious, i listen to her explain to another trainer what happened...

The treadmill he was on, when his foot planted, pinched the belt against the support structure below causing it to pause, he lost his footing, freaked a little, his next step hit the side of the treadmill... he bumped into the front of the treadmill and fell onto the belt and shot off the back.

I have had this happen before, where the treadmill pauses under my fatness... and indeed, it is freaky. But i have never fallen. But at this point... i empathize with the guy,and I'm even more nervous... so i'm like... maybe we should do this running thing tomorrow... when i'm more in the mind set.

But no... goals are not accomplished by watching other people fall down and getting scared.

So I run, i run so far away...

Wait, i didn't really go far, treadmills are stationary things after all, but i ran fast...

Nine minutes and 36 seconds worth of fast for my first sub ten minute mile since my knee surgery three years ago.

Also I ran the last 4/10 of a mile with a left shoe that was so untied it was whipping my right calf... So for a good 3 and a half minutes all i'm thinking is... it was the most terrifying 3 and a half minutes of my life.

But i did it...

ummm...

The end.

(I didn't say it was a well written story).