My first month of running

So, you may be aware that I... am not a runner. My stance has always been "Run only if chased. With a knife. A big, big, ginormous knife." Guns weren't enough of an impetus to run since I figured I couldn't outrun bullets. But then, my ever-brilliant, ever-searching-for-new-ways-to-be-busy husband started talking about doing a triathlon. And oddly enough, it sounded appealing to me as well. I used to think of myself as kind of tough - the kind of girl who could bike 20 miles to build a set, and lift her 250-pound friends for fun. The kind of girl that can help her mom move and carry the 600-million-pound TV (my back *still* hates me for that move).  The kind of girl that was never intimidated by a physical challenge. That kind of girl pretty much died out after high school, and I've missed her.

So when Jason started talking about Team in Training, I suddenly felt her wake up. This, I thought, this could be my new thing. After all, I just finished PA school with its insane schedule. Clearly I need something new to keep me running 7 days a week. And maybe that something involves actual running! The idea of being strong again, tougher than the average bear... well, that was more appealing than I could have imagined.

We went to the intro meetings, and we were hooked. Both of us have people to run for - in my case, it's my grandfather, George Kohn. He was a young grandpa until non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma crashed in, and my whole family still feels the loss 15 years later. I'll talk about him more later... just now, I want to talk about light things, like the agony of certain movements after your first-ever run.

We signed up after the Astoria meeting of TNT (that's Team in Training, and the N is a lot more PC than using the I... think about it... got it? Good!) and then we went shopping for running shoes at Jackrabbit on 14th Street. They videotape you running so they can see any stride issues (like my flat feet) and then see if the new shoes correct it or not. I discovered a heretofore unknown bit of information: I run like a girl. I know, I *am* a girl, but I mean the whole feet flailing to the sides thing - like some kind of cheerleader stereotype!! Gah! This was horrifying news to contemplate. I'm trying to move past it. I guess I'm trying to run past it, aren't I?

I now had sneakers. I was also lusting after some awesomely dorky running tights. Hey, you read all the running articles, and they all say you should have running tights for winter runs, and it's cold out, and and and... they are so awesome. They have zigzagging lines for the compression panels, that keep my quads all in alignment so my knee doesn't whine at me, and they're pretty, and they make me feel like a superhero! And I just realized I wrote a whole paragraph about tights. Hm. This may be a problem.

Moving on....

So NOW I can go run! This... is a scary idea. I mean, I hate running... right? So I gear up. It's the afternoon, not too cold out. I know I tend to overheat, so I dressed lightly. And discovered the gap between my socks and my tights. But I digress... I walked up the first hill trying to warm up, and I tell myself that if I can run one block, I'll try for two. It was downhill, so I made the first block. AND the second block, too. I made it all the way to 37th Street before I had to stop for a minute and walk (that's around a quarter mile, which was startling, since I was betting on not being able to do one block!). I just went for 15 minutes - 7 minutes out and 7 minutes back. And I felt awesome! That was the weirdest part - I didn't hate it!

I've tried to go regularly since then. It's not always easy, especially on work nights, but I'm trying. I made it to a whole mile without stopping, which was *awesome*. Then I got to run with my brother upstate, and that was fun! My first time having someone to run with, and he was very patient with my very slow pace. We ran over 2 miles, and even though I had to walk a bit, Ross said he thinks I ran at least 2 of those miles. I got sick after that trip and lost some of my steam, which lead to the now obvious conclusion: I can't let it go for too many days, or the next run will just SUCK. Choppy, painful, and feeling more and more like maybe I do have asthma (thanks a lot for putting THAT in my head, Denise!!). Right now I can still only run about 20 minutes without wanting to die. I tried 30 minutes tonight, and that was... not in my best interests.

I know I'm not yet going as much as I should, but the official TNT training sessions started this week, so I'll have all kinds of running time now. They have Tuesdays and Saturdays scheduled every week, and I'm to go on my own as well. Saturday is my first group run in Central Park, and I'm actually looking forward to it. I bet I'll get beyond 20 minutes any day now! Wheee!!