Running

I dreaded..dreaded... dreaded "The Mile" days in high school when we had to run one mile in P.E. I tried and tried to think of "sick" excuses that would help me get out of the daunting task. Sometimes being a woman worked, but that did not get me very far. Plus that excuse was better fit for swimming class. All week "The Mile" loomed over my cursed self, and the doom meddled into my conscious mind approximately one second after completing that one mile in 15 minutes flat. ha.

A friend of mine once decided that we were going to RUN THE WHOLE THING. Woah. How on earth were we going to embark on a journey requiring us to complete four whole laps with out stopping? We were determined to get a better mile time than 15 minutes. We were also tired of always coming in last, but somehow we lost track our our laps somewhere around two or three, so, we started our FIFTH lap...and came still came in DEAD LAST. Luckily, we talked our teacher into giving us a 10 minute mile time because he could see from our sweat drenched and beet red faces we weren't lying. That was the first and last time I remember running that whole damn mile with out stopping until I reached college.

My ex and I decided that we were going to train for a triathlon for three months that we never ended up doing, but the experience of training was well worth it. Once again the ONE mile faced me, and sharing my horrifying experiences in high school did not help me. I faced endless miles, a swim and a bike ride, and my tormented heart courageously took on the challenge. I remember my first day of running like it was yesterday.

We headed out for the track on Sonoma State University, and we discovered that I liked to run on my toes, ha! I fixed that quickly, and then, for the first time in four years, I ran ONE MILE without stopping. My quick celebration got interrupted by the sudden queasiness that turned into collapsing in the grass in utter agony. My only relief was puking in the trash can after ten minutes of rolling around like a dying sea whale. Please remember that this is after ONE MILE OF RUNNING.

I kept at it, and soon discovered that I could in fact run one mile. I could actually run seven miles without stopping, and I started to run all the time.

I stopped running once we learned our academic schedules did not allow us to run the triathlon, and I did not pick up running again years later when I got over the devastation of our break up. I've never been able to get back up to that caliber of running again, even with Pasha the pro-athlete-runaholic boyfriend that asks me to run with him ALL THE TIME. I bet he thinks I made up this whole running story, and that I've never run in my entire life. hahaha. Besides, I've had walking to work and dance in rehearsals to keep me in shape - both of which I do not do any more. So, I decided to go for a run yesterday.

The memories of high school flooded into my brain quickly, when I had to consciously ask my feet not to run on my tippie-toes. I also had to remind myself that I can not just pick up where I left off, and I had to take a slower pace on this particular course. Of course I had to pick the time to run, when EVERYONE was running, and I started to feel self conscious as the redness in my face matched my red shorts just after 1/2 of a mile. All the people staring at me must have thought I was on the last stretch of the thirteen mile run I mapped out for myself. They don't have to know that I had just started, although my slow slow pace and stop and start tactics might have given me away. Especially, when the pregnant woman running with a stroller passed me.

I managed to get it together to run two miles and walk another two. I'm going to celebrate the small victories, and I'm going to congratulate myself for getting out there and running again. - That can be the hardest part.