Week 2, Day 3

Week 2, Day 3
Friday, February 27

Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 21 minutes

Today's Challenges:

Okay, today it really IS raining and cold. I mean, it is actually raining, not just forcasting rain. Donald insists I will get sick if I go out and sweat in the cold rain. I think that's just an old wives' tale. I guess we'll see who's right in a couple of days. Ain't no rain gonna stop me.

Not getting enough sleep. General dispair from my last miserable running attempt, and last, but most lovely, lady-things such as cramps.

Today's Motivation
Hmmmm..... The only one I can seem to pull out of thin air is just to keep going. And hope, HOPE, today is better than Wednesday.

Other stuff:
I may try to run around the neighborhood today since the track will be muddy, and I don't want to dirty up my pretty shoes. Nor do I want to run in mud. Another option will be to go to another nearby park that has a paved track.

After the Run:

Please excuse me for a moment, I need to write some letters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Hills:
I hate you.
Sincerely,
Carla
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Asphalt:
I hate you.
Sincerely,
Carla
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Toe Knuckles:
Sorry about the asphalt.
Sincerely,
Carla
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Legs (et al):
What doesn't destroy you will only make you stronger.
Sincerely,
Carla
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now then. About my run. Two weeks down, seven to go. Six workouts down, twenty-one to go.
That should give me a sense of accomplishment. But, rather, it fills me with a really dark cloud of dread. Because I know this was just the warm up. The slap in the face to bring my body back to the reality of movement.

Looking forward to next week, I see that all three days next week are identical as well. So, I think I have another week of conditioning before the hard stuff begins. Week four looks like the killer.

Next week I'll be up to running approx 1/4 mile at a time. Then week four starts with 1/4 mile as segment one, and 1/2 mile as segment two. WHAT?! You can't just go doubling distance on me. That's insane. But, back to today.

I was once again smiled upon by God, and the rain held off while I was running. Only a slight misting again. It was considerably warmer than it's been, because the wind seemed to hold off for me too.

I did indeed choose the neighborhood as my exercise spot for the evening. Thus my new found hatred of hills. I think that had I been on my regular course tonight, I would have really broken those barriers I talked about on Wednesday. Because as I finished my "brisk warm up walk" and began to jog it FELT like the most natural thing in the world. It was such a feeling that I can almost not describe it in words. ..... And after sitting here staring for a good minute, I have found I cannot describe it in words. It was neat. (poetic, eh?)

It was a fantastic feeling that quickly (QUICKLY) wore off because my legs were already tired from going up and down hills in the warm up.

I do think that incorporating hills is an excellent idea though. It will only make my legs grow stronger and allow me to go farther. It just sucks a lot of eggs while I'm doing it.

And these are tiny hills. So tiny that when you're going up them, the road seem flat. It's only when you turn around that you notice how slanted it really is.

Another big realization this evening. I truly and honestly thought that my biggest challenge to this whole deal would be my heart and lungs. Because of previous exercise attempts that left me red-faced, gasping for air, and a heart that was sure to fail any moment, I just KNEW that my heart and lungs would take forever to come up to par. But throughout all my running tonight, the only time I had to breathe "hard" was going up the last hill. I had to breath a little bit more quickly at times on the other hills, but there was not gasping or near heart attacks. That, too was a really really wonderful experience. I worry so much about both my heart and lungs. As a matter of fact, about 3/4 of the way through, I finished a running segment that was all downhill, and about 5 steps into my walking, I realized I was breathing just about close to normal. NORMAL. That makes me want to stand up and scream "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH".

Can you believe it?! I can't. I still can't envision 3 miles -- not even close, but I'm telling you, one mile is becoming a very fuzzy shadow on the horizon. I can't make it out just yet, but there's definately something there.

All I have to say is "Hallelujah, Praise Jesus!"