Hey, remember when I lived in Houston and I was training for a marathon? I decided one day that I would start running so I stepped out the door and did two miles in fifteen minutes. Tonight was very different.
This is not a New Year’s resolution. If I call it that I will be done by the middle of next week. I have my eyes set on three 5Ks this spring. One each in March, April, and May. Easy. I have until March to make myself respectable. So, I am running again.
I want to finish a 5K in 21 minutes. I want to run a 10K next fall. I want to eventually run in one marathon. Maybe in a city like Seattle or Portland. After that, I want to run half-marathons in other cool cities like Phoenix or Nashville. I want to have an unlimited supply of race t-shirts. This time around I am setting some goals along the way. If I have something specific to prepare for, I will do much better. First step 5K.
Actually, first step was buying the shoes. I bought a new pair of running shoes this afternoon. Helpy Helperton sold them to me at a running store in Folsom. The shoes are nice. Very light. Very comfortable. Helpy asked me what my goals were as I was trying on my shoes. I told him the plan was to start with a few 5Ks and end up with one marathon under my belt. He tried to encourage me by telling me I would be there before I knew it. Maybe he doesn’t realize how much I like Lucky Charms.
As I finished my short run/walk tonight, I put my hands on top of my head and tried to catch my breath. I looked up at the sky and remembered similar nights in Texas. For a split second, I forgot the past three and a half years. I felt like I was finishing one of my six mile runs in Kingwood. It felt good, in a painful sort of way. It felt familiar. I remembered why I started running back then. I remembered how much I liked it.
Tonight was a baby step. It was tough, but it was fun. When Helpy was encouraging me about the marathon this afternoon, he asked, “How do you eat an elephant?” I laughed. And then tonight I took my first bite.
3 comments:
How's the running going? I had a great go at running last summer/fall. I ran the White Rock Half Marathon here in Dallas December 14. It was awesome.
You can do it. Keep making yourself go out and run even if you don't want to go. Eventually you'll want to go more than you won't want to.
I found this site to be helpful in setting up a training program: http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/smartcoach/
Jeff,
It took me a long time to get to the point I could run a 10K. Once you can get past mile 7 I feel you can run just about anything. I did a few 1/2 marathons after that which aren't really that bad..
Then I ran my first full marathon in 2 yrs ago. If you ever run a full in Seattle, let me know. I'm in.
Best of luck man
JP
Oh and my cousin lives in Seattle so we could stay there free. Maybe we could find a conference on the back end of it and make a week out of it.
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