As the New Year was approaching, as any other 20 something female out there, I pondered my resolutions toward eating, excercising, dieting, and overall health. I have done many different things in my time, and have explored the spectrum of all things health and diet related. I have had both personal experience with these things as well as secondary experiences by watching my friends do the same things. So, as I sat eating a piece of chocolate, I decided that I needed to do something, and do something different than I have ever tried. I worked with a marathon runner for about a year and a half, and watched him train for 3 marathons in that time. I thought he was C-R-A-Z-Y!! My idea of fun does NOT include running.
My experience with running has been a very bitter one. This all started in middle school when it was a requirement to run the mile, and depending on how long it took you to run it, how you got graded. Lets just say, gym was not my strong suit, and man is screwed with my GPA! It's been a running joke (no pun intended!) with my family and the idea of me running. You see, in this said middle school gym class, our track was up behind the bleachers, and it was in the shared gym/auditorium. One leg of the track went behind the stage, and was not visible to the gym teacher. When we were running the mile, we were to be running constantly when the gym teacher could see us, and when he couldn't, behind the stage, we were allowed to walk. And sometimes, we walked very slowly! Ever since then, I have been teased relentlessly about "running" behind the stage. If only it were true that the whole world was a stage, then there would be no reason to run! But I digress...
I have tried running on and off through the years with very little success. The last time I tried to take up running was with my ex-boyfriend. We trained together everyday. Lifting weights, cardio, core training, you name it, we did it. As a guy, sweating during his workout was a given. I have never been a big sweater, and he saw this as a lack of trying. I wasn't sweating enough, I HAD to run. To sweat, you had to run. Yeah...lets just say that didn't go over very well. I ran 3 days a week for about a week and told him to shove off, I would do cardio my own way. Sweaty or not.
My own ways have included everything from "As Seen on TV" excercise videos, sporadic attendace to fitness classes, yoga, pilates, walking on the treadmill, walking outside, etc. for whatever reason, the motivation has been slim to none. I am fortunate that I was born with a slightly higher than normal metabloism, and I have generally been able to eat just about anything and not really gain a lot of weight. Until I reached 25. It has slowly been changing over the last few years. And I need to do something about it. So why now? And why running, since it has been such a distasteful activity to me in the past?
I chose now, because, well, it is my decision. I am the one who is deciding, not my gym teacher, not my boyfriend, no one else but me. And running, well because I have seen so many different types of runners over the past few years. Probably because of my exposure day in and day out with my fellow co-worker and his training for marathons. Now, I don't want to run a marathon any time in the near future, but a local 5K, 10K, or whatever would be fun. I see people of every shape and size running at varying levels, and I know that I can do it. Yesterday, I made my final decision and got this book from Runner's World. I really enjoyed looking through it, and have to say that it totally motivated me. I think that I am ready to learn to run.
In this blog, I will log my weekly training runs, talk about my experiences with this new found sport. Chart my weight loss, inches lost, and overall change in my body, mind, and outlook on running. It's not going to be pretty to start, but I am hoping to find a lifelong fitness activity. Wish me luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment