Run, Run, Run

On Sunday morning, I got out of bed quite early and figured it would be in my best interest to attempt a run.

You see, in the last few months, my running hasn't been so great. Oh, might as well be honest. It has sucked. I have not been making myself run very much. When I do, it's half-assed at best. Half a mile on the treadmill is not what I am capable of. I can run a whole 5K...for whatever reason (I'm still trying to figure out why my brain tells me, "Girl, you're NOT a runner..." so often), however, I haven't been able to muster the energy to make myself do it.

And I've been angry with myself.

All that hard work with Gershom last year and this is what I'm doing? A few minutes on the treadmill, and more and more substituting a good run with 15 minutes on the cycle at the gym. This is not going to keep me in shape. This is not going to keep the weight off. I can run, dammit. And I will.

So Sunday morning, after my usual breakfast of Kashi and tea, I strapped on my running shoes and grabbed my keys and my iPod. I walked out of the apartment complex and figured I may as well do the two-mile loop around my neighborhood. I reasoned in my head: "I can do strict two-minute intervals. Two minutes running, two minutes walking. I can do that for two miles!"

I got to my starting point and set off at a slow-but-determined jog. I had my "Songs For Running" playlist going. The sun was out but it was still cool and breezy and just right. When I looked at the stopwatch on my iPod, I realized I was almost at two minutes...and I felt good. So I thought, "I'll push it to three minutes." And at minute three, I still felt pretty good, so I pushed it to four minutes. Before I knew it, I'd run a five-minute interval, and at this point, I walked for one minute just because I was afraid to push it too much.

My next running interval was six minutes, followed by one minute of walking, and then a few minutes of running that took me to my "break" point--the neighborhood park. I stopped there to do a few squats on the balance beam, and to play on the swings.

I did more long running intervals on the half-mile route back to my apartment complex, and reached it in about 7 minutes. Slow, yes, but the point is, I ran most of my route that day. I was quite proud of myself.

Yesterday, I did the same route, and I even shaved about 30 seconds off my overall time. Not bad--not great, considering what I could do a year ago, but better than I've done in a long time. Even more wonderful is that this makes me want to run more. I took today off, opting to do the Stair Master and cycle instead (some lunges and squats I did at the gym yesterday left me pleasantly sore). I'll run again tomorrow, and I feel like I can really pull it off.

If I keep this up, I'll be back to 5K shape in no time. And maybe solidly back in my size 8 jeans.