The Running Bug!

I swore I didn't have it. I felt sore, and sick, and was pretty sure that once the soreness wore off, I'd be fine. But no, it got worse.

I'm officially a "runner". I know - I'm as shocked as you are! Especially after Saturday's reality check, running my first 5K.

Saturday's pace - 13.9min/mile, which is barely above walking.

I'm not that interested in speed right now....although it was BEYOND demoralizing to hear the announcer yell "GO" and suddenly realize what had felt like a solid jog to me when I was alone was nothing more than an old man's shuffling step as I became the next to last person in the running group, to be followed not so far behind by the powerwalkers.

E'rr day I'm shufflin'.

My main goal right now is endurance. Run 5k again. Run it in the daytime, in the heat, regardless of the terrain. And run all of it. And if I can run it in under 40 minutes, awesome.

Here's what last night and tonight looked like. I run the property line that goes around our house and the surrounding plot. One lap is roughly .3mil according to Nike+. Sides A and C are flat. Side B is downhill and side D is steep up and downhill. I run Sides A and B at a 12.5mil/min or a little slower jog. I run side C like someone's chasing me! And I walk side D as fast as I can to recover from the sprint. My initial thought was to sprint side C and then resume the jog, which would FEEL like a great relief because I wasn't buttkicking anymore. I probably could have done that, and I probably will be able to do it by later next week if I keep getting out there. But at some point tonight after that second sprint, I thought - "I won't be able to keep this up the whole time. What's better? Short/Hard workout or Long/Moderate". Both are good, but I need to lengthen my attention span when it comes to working out. I get bored....I stop.

Tips for ADD/Beginner/Overweight/Out of shape runners:
Get Good Shoes!
Make a Killer Playlist! Mine has "Carry on my wayward son..." and "Too Legit to Quit" and "Day Tripper".
Have some kind of accountability - App, Friend, Public viewing (Seriously, I ran harder Saturday when I could see the people at the different turns watching/taking pictures/judging me!!!)
Set Goals or use a program that sets them for you.
Celebrate your achievements!

I got out last night and ran using the Nike+ app on my ipod that I didn't even know existed. I ran 2.5miles in 32 minutes with an average pace of 12.3min/mile. Tonight, wearing my new "reward" tennis shoes, I ran another 2.5miles in another 30 minutes, this time with an average pace of 11.45min/mile. Lighter shoes made a huge difference.

And lastly, give yourself some grace. Running is hard. I'm running with 43% body fat - about ten% over the acceptable range for a 30something year old female. Every extra pound over my lean body mass is between 8 and 10 pounds of impact hitting my knees and ankles. So what if I was one of the slowest runners....I was one of the runners! And if you don't start, you won't finish.

There's a quote I like from one of my favorite books: "Deepening Your Conversations with God" by Ben Patterson - it says:
There are two kinds of pain in life. The pain of discipline, and the pain of regret.

I don't regret running.