a running story, continued

how i got into running: part 2
sorry for last night’s cop-out post! now you see why i don’t post at night, right? today i’m another step closer to fully human and will post about the rest of my running story. since you asked!

so we left off in 1998, when i graduated high school knowing only cheerleading as my main form of exercise. not exactly a lifelong activity, but that wasn’t why i participated! i matriculated at williams college knowing that cheerleading was no longer going to be an option for me — the div III powerhouse didn’t even have a team! instead, i was a non-athlete surrounded by members of various teams: crew, squash, soccer, track, lacrosse, ice hockey . . . you name it.

i thought about becoming a coxswain for the crew team for about 0.05 seconds, then realized that being cold and wet was REALLY not my scene, nor was getting up at dark o’clock for practice (ha, and yet look at me now . . .). so i did a capella and theater instead. it didn’t take long before i felt . . . incomplete. breaking a sweat was something i had been used to, and i hadn’t realized how therapeutic it was until it was gone!

plus, everyone else was doing it. really. EVERYONE.

so i started to find other ways to be active. i took an aerobics class (i still remember the songs that they used to play in that class! a-ha’s “take on me”, anyone?), signed up for yoga, and found out where the gym was. i had friends join me for boywatching while on the stairmaster. there was even a little treadmill area that overlooked the squash courts — great mid-run entertainment! i remember my runs were never longer than 3.6 miles, and i never went over 10:00 min/mi speed. i didn’t really see the point! it was exercise, but not a sport to me at that time.

i mean, why look at scenery like this when you could be gazing at the men’s squash team?

to be continued . . .

(not because there is some great surprise coming up, like “AND THEN I BECAME AN OLYMPIC-LEVEL SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMER”, but because i have to get the gym never mind, already went. now i have to get to work!)

fresh legs, stale lungs?
sloppy-joe-eating capabilities aside, i’m still in recovery mode — i have a voice that is way past sexy-hoarse all the way to barely comprehensible. but systemically, i was feeling okay yesterday, so i headed out for an easy run. it was an odd one: my legs felt springy, but my breathing wasn’t perfect. i felt limited by my lungs rather than my legs (i guess usually it’s the opposite?). the result was a relatively brisk run — not superfast, but i was really trying to run at a relaxed slow pace — that felt way hard.

stats: 5.04 in 44:00, or 8:45/mi

comment replies
i replied to comments on the last post. i really want to be better about doing this! i hate when i ask a good question on another person’s blog (or say something that i think is particularly brilliant) and am left hanging!