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06/07/2008
Day 1 of Running
Well, I bit the bullet and decided to try to get into the habit of running. I've tried this before and failed, so I don't know if this will work better, but we'll see!
Running has never actually been a forte of mine at any point in my life. In grades 5 and 6 I went to an elementary school where gym class was actually a mass 3k run every other day. I used to really hate these runs, and regardless of whether it was September after a summer off, or June after a whole year of doing these runs, I never seemed to feel a difference. I was always dragging my sorry butt along the course, gasping for air, wishing I could just walk it, and wishing I could be anywhere else but there.
Then came high school where things didn't improve. I have memories of being so exhausted my bones felt hollow, never quite being able to keep up with even the non-varsity kids, always dreading gym class. I was soooooo happy when I got old enough that gym class wasn't mandatory anymore. It took a long time to reverse the "thank God I don't ever have to do another exercise again" mentality!
Now I dance, and I like Irish dance, but it really drains me and I wish I had the endurance for it. I always come out of there thinking, wow, I need to get in better shape. Sometimes, when training for a competition, I'd be in 2 dance classes a week, and even then, I could feel a difference in fitness level. However, dance class is an expensive way to get exercise, so I don't want to load up too much on that. Also, I have a bad habit of taking up activities which require a lot of specialized practice (i.e., learning routines/steps/music/etc).
Enter running. All I really need to do is force myself to put one foot in front of the other on a regular basis. No need for intense brainpower, memorization, or expensive classes. And since it's cardio which is basically killing me in dance class at the moment, it seemed like a good solution.
Except, of course, for the fact that I don't really like real-life running! In dreams sometimes I dream that I can run and not feel tired, and it feels great. I wish that's what happened when I got out and ran today, but it was quite a different story. I decided to do a run/walk type of thing to work up to running continuously, and while a lot of people claim that you get into a running zone and time flies by, I found that the half hour I was out there felt like an eternity. It was also really hard, and my technique is probably really crappy because I feel almost immediately that I'm about to get shin splints. I also don't have proper running shoes, which I need to get ASAP if I'm to avoid incapacitating myself within a week.
I think about how much I struggled just to walk & run for half an hour this morning, and yet there are people who complete marathons, which is totally unfathomable to me at this point. On the other hand, it means there's a whole lot of room for improvement and for things to get better, so maybe (just maybe) it's possible I'll clear this "running really sucks" zone and get into the "feel good" zone people keep talking about, and actually accomplish something like hitting a particular milestone. I don't think I've ever run 5k in my whole life, so I'll make that my first goal (after being able to run 30 min in a row!)
So at the moment, I feel really worn out physically, probably am a bit dehydrated (got to learn to manage that better in the future), but mentally I'm really psyched that I actually managed to get my butt out of bed and go for a run. Now all I have do is do it more than once! :-)
12:46 Posted in Sports | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this