Run #4 - On the Dreadmill

Oops, I mean TREADmill. I am so funny. And probably quite original.

This morning I woke with a start at 5:26 am. The Sleep Station on my i-pad is set to Tibetan Bell. What is weird is that it seems to ring in my mind right before it rings in real life. Then as I was trying to turn off the loud "B-oooo-nnnggggg", my cell phone alarm went off causing me to scream. Not good when I am trying to be sneaky so Daniel can sleep.

I picked up a friend and we had an interesting little conversation about treadmills. I thought there was a specific one for running. She thought I was crazy. Turns out she was right. There are these great big intimidating looking treadmills that I was thinking were the ones you were supposed to run on. Turns out they just have huge incline-ability. Yuck!

So after our little tour of the gym to compare treadmills, and peeking our heads in on the spin class we were ditching purposefully to go running instead, we went to the lady's gym and hopped on the regular treadmills.

The only thoughts I remember having this morning during my walk/jog was when I was keeping an eye on my friend. She introduced me to the run during the curve and walk the straight or walk the curve and run the straight. Basically it amounts to about 2 minutes of running and then a few minutes walking. I actually kept up with her, kind of. At least at first. Anyway, I could see her out of the corner of my eye turn up her treadmill from a 3.5 to a 4-something which meant we would be running again. Ugh! "Don't touch that dial!" I would scream in my head even as my feet picked up the pace.

Run #3

Nothing too entertaining went on in my brain during this third "run." I use the term loosely because most of the time I walk and some of the time I crawl. Okay, I don't literally crawl, but I wish to sometimes.

Bob was sleeping when I absconded with his i-phone to track my run. I left kids in the backyard and in the house. So after the first of three blocks I stopped in to check on the kiddos. Big mistake! They would have been much better had I not checked in. Dan had a fit and had to spend the rest of my run in his bed. Rhianna got out of the yard and had to spend the rest of my run inside the house. After the Kid-Drama it was difficult to get back up the nerve and energy to continue running.

I walked half a block and immediately after I took up a little jog, my right ear bud fell out of my ear. Yes, I forgot to get a case... again! Instead of "sucks" or "stupid," I muttered another S-word. A four letter one! *GASP*

Then I had my epiphany for the day.

Thoughts such as these:

If only I had better ear buds.

If only I had one of those armbands so I wasn't constantly getting tangled up in cords.

If only I had my own i-phone that I could set up special for me...

were immediately followed by thoughts such as these:

I do not have to have ideal conditions to run and get in shape and do the things I need to do.

I am not in a perfect condition. Why do I feel I need to have perfect tools?

Start where I am and keep going...

The thoughts and ideas in my brain at that moment are not exactly presenting themselves as clearly now that I want to write them down. Figures. But I shall use my new "Start where I am and keep going" for my writing, as well.

Inner Dialogue of a Crazy Person - Running Day 2

Early last evening: I'm going to wake up at 5:30 to go to spin class, then maybe I won't have to run tomorrow. Or at least I'll get in better shape so running doesn't suck so much.

Late last night: Okay, I'm going to sleep in. I'll just do the 3-block walk/jog. It won't be as bad as yesterday.

Today around 1:30: "Honey, can I borrow your phone? I'm going to go running."

An hour later: Bob asked, "I thought you were going to borrow my phone?" I had to admit that I was distracted by Facebook. I really didn't want to go!

2-something: Fiddled with Pandora and the running app, www.mapmyrun.com if anyone's interested. Oops, I forgot the phone case. Oh, well, I'm already outside, I'll just carry it. (While running/walking the cord kept getting tangled and added to the frustration.)

Should I walk for a bit first? I don't want to wreck the results, but if I start running closer to the park, maybe I'll actually be able to run all the way to the park.

Crud! STILL couldn't run all the way to the park.

Yuck, it's daylight, people can see me. At least I won't run into trees this time.

This... pant, pant, SUCKS!

Okay, I will run to the stop sign. Wait, never mind, no I won't.

At one point I shared my inner dialogue with everyone within ear shot. My left ear bud fell out of my ear and I had to stop and untangle it and put it back in. "This is stupid!" Quickly looked around to see if anyone heard. I didn't see anyone. No wonder Bob likes running at night. In the dark. After normal people are sleeping.

Much of the conversation was not nice to Bob. Why, oh WHY, did I have to go and ask him to help me? He's not going to let me forget it. He's going to be mean. He's going to make me run when I don't want to. * Men are different than women. I'm going to hire a trainer who's a girl. * This might work for Bob. But I need something different.

The colors are so much prettier on that street, I'll turn here.

I don't really have to eat sweets ever again. If I just don't eat, I won't have to do this anymore.

I hate this!

During my final half block toward home there was a little breeze that caused the leaves to dance swirly-style in the road. It was beautiful and I thought, If my running will make it so that I can live just a few years longer, to see leaves dance during a few more Autumns, this will be worth it.

This feels good.

Inner Dialogue of a Crazy Person - Running Day 2

I Ran... And nobody was even chasing me!

Do you teach your kids not to say, "sucks?" Yeah, me too. But I've been saying it a lot in my head lately. Here is why. I started running.

Last late winter/early spring I started spinning. Hated it and loved it and was doing great at it. I had a friend who went with me and we were great support for each other. Then we accidentally took the summer off and have been struggling to get back into spinning 2 times a week. I have been so horribly lazy lately and using every excuse to NOT get up at 5:30 when the stupid alarm goes off. Yep, I've been using "stupid", too. And not always just in my head.

My hubby and I have a wonderful partnership. We've been married for 13 1/2 years and have been very easy going with each other. That is about to change. And I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that.

This past July my stud of a husband took a 2 week Arrest Control class from the FBI. They whipped him into shape. He had to be able to run 1.5 miles in 13.13 minutes just to get into the class. Then each day during the two-week class the students had to run, sometimes uphill carrying 9-pound medicine balls, do 30 minutes of push-ups, 30 minutes of sit-ups, etc. It was brutal. But he came home a new man. The last day of the class he celebrated a birthday. I won't tell you how old he is but the class was filled with 20 year olds and he was twice their age plus five on the last day. They had a race and he finished 2nd. SECOND! I am so proud of that man!

Last week I asked him for help. It was a dangerous thing to do, but I was, and am, desperate. So two nights ago he let me borrow his i-phone to track my walk/jog around the block. The deal that my new trainer made with me was that I could jog around once or walk/jog/however I wanted around the block three times. It was bad. I couldn't even jog TO the park, much less around it and the rest of the block. I started out feeling defeated. Halfway around the block, walking, I accidentally paused Pandora in the middle of a really good song that I was trying to turn up, and then when I figured out what I did, I ended up turning off the running tracking app. So, frustrated, and only completing 1 out of the required 3 blocks, I stumbled into the house and asked hubby if he would walk/jog with me the next two blocks. We talked while we walked. He gave me some running tips. I felt good when we came into the house.

Running Sucks, But I'm gonna do it anyway.