I’ve never been what you would call athletic. In elementary school, I was always as far from the kickball as possible, though I did like to play a game or two of “state tag” during afterschool care. I played t-ball for either one or two years which was basically a way to get me to run after the ball over and over again (though I was on a team with a few girls who played softball for the University of Florida, if I recall correctly). Middle school, I was in the marching band so never once had to take PE. In high school, marching band could only delay my PE experience to my Junior year, when I failed at every group sport one by one. My teacher was very kind, though, telling me she could tell I tried really hard. At CSULB, I took a semester of karate which I loved, despite the fact I was always left totally breathless and sore after every practice. Last semester, there was my attempt at ballet which showed me I will never have the grace of a dancer and that my tendancy to put my weight on the outer portions of my feet doomed me, as well.
Then, four weeks ago, I decided to re-start the Couch to 5K program after taking off a few weeks when the last big snowstorm hit. I went from dreaded a single minute of running (yes, a literal minute) to now being able to run for five minutes without feeling like I’m going to die. This is a big, huge deal for me. I’ve never, even when I was in my best shape in high school due to marching band, been able to run for any sort of distance. Quarter, maybe half a mile. That’s it.
And, yet, what did I do Thursday? I signed up to join a running group. A running group made up of knitters. A running group that will be running a half-marathon in September. Of course, I am in the slower of two sub-groups. My group, the endurance group, is just hoping to finish. We plan to run half, walk half in even intervals. In our first meeting today, our leader, Kel, joked that we’ll have so much energy left at the end of the race that we’ll be stepping over the bodies of the crazy people trying to run a 9 or 10-minute half-marathon mile.
(Above: My fancy new running shoes. Picking these out required me to run around the block with the sales lady. Never done that to buy gear before though buying a hiking pack required me to carry around 40 pounds of sandbags as I walked up and down stairs. They’re Saucony ProGrid Guide 2′s, if anyone cares.)
I don’t expect this to be easy. In fact, it’s probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. But, as Alison keeps remindning me, running is something you can only get better at with practice. I may never be a dancer or a championship fencer, but running, this I can do.
The race is 25 weeks away. I can’t wait.
