Oh, my aching muscles

My legs have been aching since last Saturday. It's been a while since I put them through this sort of strenuous exercise. It's a good kind of ache, though. My training officially started this past Saturday when I decided to run 5k and see how long it would take me. There's a website that Angel told me about, SparkPeople (linked on the side of this page), which has messageboards for people looking to get into shape, among other things. There's a particular messageboard for "Rookie Runners" which does a monthly 5k challenge, asking members to run 5k over the weekend and post their time on the board. I figured that this would be a good way to start off my training with a bang, despite not having run farther than a mile in forever.

So last Saturday morning, I decided to step foot in a Gold's Gym for the first time in at least a month (Yes, I know, every month I don't go, I'm wasting $40...). I was feeling extremely proud of myself for getting up at a decent hour, eating breakfast, and heading to the gym, instead of my usual Saturday morning routine, which involves lying in bed until my stomach's about to digest itself or I've gotten bored with the Internet. With my new running shoes on and my spirits high, I set forth to walk to the gym, which is about 3/4 of a mile from my house. And... I promptly got lost. Yes, I got lost less than a mile from my own house. In my own defense, I've only been living in this neighborhood for about, uh, 2 and a half months. So I ended up taking the "scenic route" to the gym, tacking on another mile to my trek. No problem, I figured, it was a good warmup! I was ready to hop right on the treadmill and breeze through 5k (3.1 miles to you non-metrically inclined folks).

The run itself actually went quite well. I tackled it in intervals, walking for 90 seconds at a 3.5 miles/hour pace, and then running for 90 seconds at 6-6.5 miles/hour. I completed it in 38 minutes and 10 seconds, averaging to about 12.5 miles an hour. By the end of the run, I was completely dehydrated and more red-faced than Ted Kennedy, but I was an actual runner. Fueled by the endorphines, I then dropped $200 on Christmas gifts in the shopping area near the gym and walked on home with 4 heavy shopping bags in hand. So I guess my legs AND my wallet are aching.

Lessons learned from the run:
- I really need to learn how to navigate around my own neighborhood.
- Bringing a bottle of water with me on the treadmill is a Very Good Idea. I think I sweated out a full pound of water.
- If I don't start rewarding myself with other things besides shopping, this running habit is going to be very expensive.

Not so much

You know how I said below that I'd do the elliptical after work? Know what's better than an elliptical workout before a tough game of indoor kickball?

A nap. So I took one.

I *am* going to get a 40-minute hard-core kickball workout, right?

If it's not a running day, it's just so tough for me to do anything else. Let's hope that kickball workout is as tough as people are saying.

technorati tags:kickball, procrastination

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Still so far to go

I started running about two weeks ago. About every six months, I say that I'm going to be a runner. I'm going to do a 5K. And about a day later, after one run (that is mostly walking), I say, "Well, I can't do this today." And being a great procrastinator, it's three weeks later, and I've yet to follow up on that first run.

Two weeks ago, I started again. And then I took a break for a day and went back the next day. And the next. And one more. Then another Saturday. And so one. I'm starting Week Three of consistently working on that thing called being a runner.

This time, I can't really stop because I've told about 101 people I'm running a 10 mile race in April (those people include my friends, my grandmother and my VP). Plus, I already picked out the cute bracelet I will buy when I finish the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run.

What better motivation is shopping?

Training? I'm doing OK. Since it gets dark kinda early, and since there's no way (yet) that I can wake up in time, I've been hitting the treadmill after work. I started just doing 20 minutes or so at a speed of about 4.1 mph. I'm now going at least 40 minutes, working toward a solid 12 minute pace.

I'm much more of an outdoors person, so I love going outside when I can, especially running on those natural trails through wooded areas. I visited Theodore Roosevelt Island yesterday. The loop was not as loop as I'd hoped (only 1.6 miles). I guess I could've just done it twice. But it's also not as secluded and serene as I expected. At any rate, I had a good run(/walk) and the weather was great.

Today I'm playing indoor kickball, so I'm going to attempt to do some working out on the elliptical before I play. The kickball-dork side of me can't believe I'm working out before actually playing a game.

Beginnings

I have never been a runner. I've never seen a point to running when you can just walk or, better yet, drive to places you need to go. In high school, the only thing that prevented me from getting the Presidential Fitness Award was the shuttle run. Admittedly, I might still be a little bitter about that... after all, who doesn't want a piece of paper saying that Bill Clinton thinks you're fit? But I've always rationalized it by thinking, some people are just made to run, and others are not. I'm not a long, lithe, willowy runner. My best sport is ... flipcup. As long as I can down a quarter-cup of beer and upend the cup in record time, who needs to be able to run 10 miles?

Until today. I've signed up for the Cherry Blossom 10-miler on April 1st. I have less than 3.5 months to go from running to first base in a kickball game to running 10 miles in less than 2 hours, 20 minutes. This means actually making use of my gym membership, going to the treadmill after work instead of going to happy hour, and buying really cute running clothes. I can't even run a mile without stopping. So I'm scared.

The good part is, I'm not doing this alone. My kickball buddy, Angel, is my partner-in-crime for training for this race. We both have friends who are avid runners; her roommate just completed the Marine Corps marathon, and my roommate once tried to run 50 races in a year (I think he topped out at 15 or so.) But we're both starting from the same point... complete out-of-shapeness. So we've started this blog to chronicle our journey from the kickball playground to the running trail. Let's hope it works...