One of my "do"s for this year is to run/walk a mile-a-day. Let me just be completely upfront here.
I. Am not. A runner.
Yup. That pretty much sums me up.
I wish I could be a runner because there is just something so romantic about it. Being alone in your thoughts, music pounding in your ears as your feet pound the pavement, feeling your heart thudding inside your chest, knowing that you are are going somewhere on the sheer will of your body and mind.
And then I awaken from the romanticism of it all: my thoughts are focussed on how badly this hurts, how loudly my heart is pounding in my chest, how I can't catch my breath. All I can see is the darn treadmill screen and when will it finally tell me I've reached a mile. My feet flail and flap ungracefully on the treadmill mat, and my heart is racing so rapidly in my chest I begin to worry I might die. I mean really, truly worry that "the Big One" is about to strike me down right here in the depths of my basement.
But I did it. I survived month #1: a total of 31 miles. Woot!!
And I learned a few things:
Don't run 30 minutes after eating a 7" sub sandwich.
Running is hard work (those people jogging merrily along the side of the road make it look easy).
Some days you're not gonna want to run. Do it anyway.
The breathlessness of doing it feels way better than the guilt of not.
Commitment, discipline and will power are in my vocabulary.
It does get easier the more you do it.
Some days are better than others.
The mind is a powerful player in how hard you can run. So is good music.
Slowest || Day 1 || 13:25
Fastest || Day 31 || 10:41
And look: I made it onto the "You Rock" board!
But I did it. I survived month #1: a total of 31 miles. Woot!!
Don't run 30 minutes after eating a 7" sub sandwich.
Running is hard work (those people jogging merrily along the side of the road make it look easy).
Some days you're not gonna want to run. Do it anyway.
The breathlessness of doing it feels way better than the guilt of not.
Commitment, discipline and will power are in my vocabulary.
It does get easier the more you do it.
Some days are better than others.
The mind is a powerful player in how hard you can run. So is good music.
Slowest || Day 1 || 13:25
Fastest || Day 31 || 10:41
And look: I made it onto the "You Rock" board!
Has anyone else committed to moving more this year?
This is awesome and kudos to you to commit to yourself! My goal was to run 366 miles last year and I ended up with 385 miles, plus 101 miles of walking. In July I ran at least one mile every single day. I've been running since 1997 and it's STILL hard on some days! You are doing great and you should be really proud!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome!! I'm really hoping to stick with it for the entire year. Some days it is really hard to drag myself to do it. WTG for exceeding your goal!
ReplyDelete