Those of you who read my blog may remember my Special K Challenged post back in October when I mentioned my friend, Casey. Although our diet did not prove extremely successful (not a lot of weight lost, but we're both in a smaller size) it did manage to drive us a little crazy for two weeks. I think that Casey has sworn off cereal for a very very long time. We have, however, continued something else that we started during those two weeks...running. I had been jogging on the treadmill for the last several months, but it was getting painfully boring pretty fast. At first we decided to get together to jog twice a week for about two miles each time. Then, per Casey's suggestion and much to my chagrin, we upped it to three miles. She mentioned that her friend had recently run a half marathon which is 13 miles. Being fairly confident that I was not up for anything that required that much in-shapeness (probably not a word), I suggested that maybe we could just work our way to finishing a 10 K, or 6.2 miles. So, we diligently researched some training schedules like the one found
here, and modified them a little. We now run together Mon, Wed and Fri and train some on our own too. Last week we made it past the four mile mark, which I felt was a huge accomplisment!
If only my highschool volleyball coach could see me now. He was big on the running thing once telling us that you can run up to four miles during a match, which I highly suspect was a severe overexaggeration meant to inspire us. Nonetheless we would spend the first part of practice warming up with a mile run followed by sprints or running stairs (the worst!). Undoubtedly I was the most vocal opponent to his training techniques and could often be found walking the part of the route that couldn't be seen from his vantage point.
So, here we are...a million miles, so to speak, from where I was in highschool. I wouldn't say that I actually enjoy the whole heart beating out of my chest, lungs burning and legs feeling like jello by the end type of running that we are doing. But, it does give me a great sense of accomplishment when I am done. Hopefully my deeply rooted competitive instincts will prove useful as we try to push eachother a little further every week.
Props to my friend, Casey, who is so hard core that she yakked enroute the other day and just kept running.
