I’m now a runner.
Sometime in December 2009 – When I started running.
Sunday, January 31, 2010 – The date I became a runner.
I’ve never particularly liked running. I ran a lot in high school, mostly because of gym class or being forced to for cheerleading. When I worked out, I preferred to either lift weights or get on the elliptical. Running was boring.
I stopped cheerleading my junior year of high school, meaning that I wasn’t practicing/working out for two to three hours each day after school. Considering I had been doing so for six years of my life up to that point, the freedom was OVERWHELMING. But now six years later, after high school graduation and college graduation and entering the “real world,” I am a walking version of a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon. November of ‘09 was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back, so I’ve been working out and “dieting” since January 1. And what did I decided to do to work out and motivate myself? Run. I’ve decided to run.
There are a lot of reasons why I chose running:
- I am not coordinated enough to participate in the sports that I would be interested in participating in, such as tennis or basketball.
- I am not rich enough to participate in the sports that I would be interest in participating in anyway. I could barely afford my running shoes, which were on sale. And I had a gift card. And they were the cheapie ones anyway. But you don’t need a lot for running; while proper running gear would be nice, all you really need is a pair of shoes and some clothes. Boom. Run.
- A lot of the healthy lifestyle blogs I read are running focused, and they make it seem easy, but their “About” sections are all “Oh, I wasn’t a runner and I couldn’t run more than one minute and now I run 26 miles!” (I see no reason why that can’t be me a year from now!)
- Runners seem nice, but in the end it’s a sport you do alone. And I am fiercely independent; I don’t like doing a lot of things with other people. It’s nothing against people. I just like doing my own thing and not having to rely on others.
So I picked running, with the goal of running the Peachtree Road Race this July. And I’ve been running since Jan. 1, plugging the miles consistently after work and over the weekends. So far, so good: I’ve lost around five pounds plus some inches, my clothes are fitting better, I just feel better. But I still was hating on running. Again, for several reasons:
- I don’t have the endurance. I don’t have the mental capacity. And this is a neverending cycle: I run a mile, and it begins to get difficult. My brain says “Gah, you just ran a MILE! You’re awesome! You can stop now – I mean, how many other people can run a mile?” So I stop. So I do need to build up my endurance, but my mentality needs a significant overhaul, as well.
- I run after work on a treadmill. People say this is easier. People are LIARS. It is much easier for me to run outside. I run flat-footed on a treadmill, which makes my feet and calves cramp up. So after a quarter of a mile my legs are already super tight. My feet are in pain. It sucks.
- I run after work next to a man I have nicknamed “Gazelle.” He sprints along next to me as I gasp for air, clinging to the edge of the treadmill. He’s super nice (he’s actually one of my coworkers) and has been nothing other than encouraging, but when I reach that mile point I get images of him making fun of me behind my back. I have no empirical proof that he does this, but it’s mortifying to me. I mean, if I were working out next to a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day balloon, I would find that kind of funny. So I finish that mile and then haul ass out of there.
- Running is still boring.
So today I decided to go plug in three miles. I have a 5K coming up in less than two weeks, so I can’t give up now. I’m committed. I drove down to the local park where there’s a lovely walking track with beautiful scenery. (Other than the sewer plant.) I stretched my legs, jogged in place, and then took off.
The weather today? Beautiful. It’s chilly, but not the Arctic cold from a few weeks ago. The sun was beaming. Today more than made up for yesterday’s awful weather. A lot of people were out on the track, just strolling along. And I was running.
Before I knew it, a mile had come and gone. And I was still going.
A mile and a half flew by. Still going. (I had slowed down a bit by this point.)
As I reached the two mile marker, I started to cry. I never, never, never thought I would be at this point. Still running. Like, a couple of a weeks ago I ran a 40 minute 5K, but I walked a lot of it. Usually I’ll run a mile, then walk a half mile, then run a half mile, then so on and so on. Even at my most fit, I don’t think I ever ran two consecutive miles. The second mile ended at my car and I leaned against it, breathing heavy. My legs were burning and my lungs were screaming at me. Tears were streaming down my cheeks. I am a runner, I thought to myself. I can do this. It’s hard, but I can do this – I just did it. I ran, and it was hard, but I did it. I’m a runner.
Now, I was supposed to go three miles, but I was so overwhelmed at this point that I let myself into my car and just sat there, crying. After about 20 minutes of that, I just left. I can’t explain it – it wasn’t a mental thing this time. I wasn’t thinking to myself, “Wow, you just ran two miles, so you can leave.” It was more of just being so overwhelmed and grateful that I had to respect what I had just done and leave it for the day.
I’m sure I’ll have to walk some in my upcoming 5K, and I’m pretty sure I’ll walk a LOT of my upcoming 10K. I know I’ll still wrestle with that infernal treadmill. I know there will still be days when I throw in the towel after one mile. But now it’s okay. I’m no longer a fraud.
Because I’m a runner.
January Wrap-up
I’m going to try to get into the habit of writing “wrap-up” posts at the end of each month. Honestly, I have the worst memory in the world, so these should be fun for me to look back over and reflect.
- January 1 – New Year’s Day! It was on a Friday and was pretty quiet, actually. Grandma had stayed with us over the Christmas holidays, so we all just hung out.
- January 4 – Back to work after two weeks of vacation. It was rough.
- January 5 – Grandma left for Florida.
- January 7 – Had to leave work early in order to get home due to icy conditions. Almost ate metal several times. Vow to spend January 2011 on the equator.
- January 8 - SNOW DAY! I had to work from home, but took some time to build Bob, the Blob.
- January 9 – I wrote a tweet about how I was inspired to run a marathon by two of my fave bloggers.
- January 12 – Absorbing the impact of the Haiti earthquake, which wreaked devastation throughout the country.
- January 15 – Began reading “The Rape of Nanking.” Absolutely powerful.
- January 18 – We took in two kittens that ended up on our porch. (They eventually ended up being stolen by our lovely neighbors, so full of class and elegance that I wish I could be them. Not. Still livid over the whole experience. You would think that killing a string of animals over the years through sheer neglect and passivity would be enough for them, yet here we are.)
- January 19 – My mom’s 49th birthday!
- January 22 - Tweet: “I think pizza makes an awesome breafkast! It’s not weird at all.” Also on January 22: I reached my one-thousandth tweet!
- January 23 – I registered for my FIRST RACE EVER, a 5k on February 13.
- January 27 – Followed the live blog obsessively with one of my fellow coworkers as Steve Jobs introduced the iPad. (Oh, and President Obama gave his very first State of the Union address tonight. I fell asleep at 9:43.)
- January 30 – Today.
The first month of 2010 has been kind of fun! I feel like I’m sticking to my goals for the year, and I’m really excited about February. It should be a big month, and I can’t wait to blog about it.
Gold Stars
I know that I complain a lot. I can promise you that I’m working on it, because I generally do believe that we have a choice in our own happiness. And I also think it is a choice to remove negative things from our life, as I’ve mentioned before on this blog regarding Walmart. Walmart, to me, represents negativity. I have often been horrified by reports of its business “ethics.” When I walk in, I am not happy – I feel crowded and insignificant. So I’ve decided to not go to Walmart.
However, there are some businesses/services that I have initially been wary of, but then impress me. And, in the interest of showing that I am not just a complainer but that I also recognize quality, this is what today’s blog going to do.
Service number one is Aetna. Yes, health insurance. I’ve always been on the two biggie health insurance companies: Blue Cross and United Healthcare. So when we were informed in November that our company would be switching our health care over to Aetna, I was ill at ease. Let me be blunt: I had no real reason to be upset over this. However, I didn’t know Aetna. I dislike change. So I decided that I wouldn’t be happy w/ this change.
This unhappiness translated to me posting something negative about Aetna on my Twitter account. What happened was that I received my member card and a PCP had been preselected for me. I don’t even remember what I wrote on Twitter; just something like “Already don’t like Aetna, blah blah blah.” The solution was easy enough; I signed onto my Aetna account, changed my PCP to my actual PCP, and I got a new card in the mail.
Also in the mail? A letter from Aetna. They had reviewed my complaint on Twitter, followed up, and informed me where the mistake was made (not on their part; it was someone else, basically.) I sat there with this letter, feeling like a real ass if I’m being perfectly honest. I just posted an initial reaction to my Twitter account; I didn’t want someone to take time out of their probably already busy day. (However, I also pay a lot of money every month for the service, so at least I know my voice is being heard!)
Point? Aetna handled the entire issue with class, and they’ve made me more open to change and their service. That was exactly how a company should handle complaints, and that’s why “joining the conversation” on these social networking sites is really important for companies, even large corporations. People may still use your product, but they’re more likely to feel good and maintain loyalty if you work with them.
Mad props to Aetna. However, don’t worry – I’ll be back with more complaints soon. PROMISE. 
Kitties!
So, two black kittens have taken up residence on our porch. We’re NOT cat people, but for whatever reason my mother is gung-ho on keeping them, particularly the female. Basically, we have two new cats. So meet Ebony and Capone:
Ebony Jade
Capone
