No, this isn’t me. I don’t look this good when I run…yet.
While I’ve been walking on our lovely beach for months, this past week my husband and I got serious about our training for this half-marathon. We tied on our shoes and headed onto the streets of our local neighborhood. We lucked out. Our gated community has a giant loop that measures 1.01 miles. Handy, eh? With pedometer clipped on, we set out to do three miles.
We even attempted to jog a little.
Now, let me make this clear—I haven’t attempted to move faster than a walk in years. Why would I? There’s no need to hurry in my sleepy little beach town. Plus, it’s June. Warm, a little humid. And it’s only going to get worse over the next 3-4 months.
To my chagrin, I felt parts of my body bounce. No, not breasts. Mine have never been very big, and I do own a couple good sports bras. The bouncing came from above my hips. Those “saddle bags” of extra flab I’ve happily put around my middle over the past *mumble* years. I didn’t think they were that big, but they sure jiggled around with every step I took. I also realized how hard it was to get up on the balls of my feet. My ankles weren’t interested in that at all. And my lungs actually threatened to pack their bags and LEAVE if I didn’t knock off this jogging nonsense.
We succeeded in jogging 1/3 mile before pulling up, winded, sweaty, red-faced and jubilant. We walked the rest of the mile. Then, being gluttons for punishment, we attempted to jog 1/3 of a mile again. And succeeded. Okay, we didn’t finish out the third 1/3 mile, but we attempted it. That last mile? I was breathing hard the whole way. My clothes were soaked. My legs were sore.
It was a start. And we vowed to do it again the next day. We even tried. Unfortunately, we weren’t 100 feet away from our front door when it decided to POUR rain. Cold rain. Biting rain. Rain I couldn’t see through. Rain that had us soaked before we could make it back those 100 fee to our front door. We bagged the workout. Yeah, I know. It could very well be raining on the day of the half-marathon. I’m adding “learn to run in the rain” on my goals list. But not this soon.
We made it out a total of three times last week. Yesterday, we successfully jogged the 1/3 mile all three times—and I wasn’t nearly as winded—AND I was able to get up on the balls of my feet. Of course, I’ve also gained 3 pounds in the past two weeks. I like to think I’m building muscle, but it’s a little disheartening.
Today’s goal: 5 mile beach walk. It’s going to feel like a vacation. We’ll be back at the 3 mile training tomorrow.
Beginnings are hard. Building new habits is hard. But I’m still excited at the prospect of this challenge.