Excuses are like...

Pumpkin Plod - Highland, IN 2002 (the ole running days)

It's April Fool's Day. I hope no one plays any tricks on me! Oh wait, Mother Nature is - I am looking out my window and see rain and snow. Not sleet. Rain AND snow. Only in the frickin' Midwest, I tell ya. Thank God I ran last night when it was 50 degrees and don't have a "run day" today. Today is a swim day! I am on track to get all of my workouts in this week. I ran on Tuesday and Thursday this week and I will swim today and Saturday and run again on Sunday.

Speaking of running, I've been steadily improving each week as I get out there and "run." What I really do is jog very slowly but my short, stubby legs are going faster than walking so I count it as running! I used to be a Runner. Sort of a hard core one at that. Now, mind you, I've always been slow and I always will be. My fastest pace ever was an 11-minute mile and that was when I was in the best shape of my life. I logged that time at the Wacker Drive is Done 5K in Chicago after they revamped lower Wacker Drive in Chicago the first time in 2002 with my friend Kelly (who was and still is an uber-runner). I almost tossed my cookies at the end of the race but she so kindly reminded me that the Channel 7 TV cameras were there and I didn't want to be the person throwing up on the evening news. I still appreciate her for that! I was running 4-5 days a week, participated in Bulldog Bootcamp and eventually trained for a Half Marathon. That's the thing about the running world. It's hard to be happy "just" doing 5Ks. It's always about getting faster, going farther, and I got sucked up into the running world vortex. I eventually came shooting out the other end of that vortex and landed firmly on my couch with a bowl of ice cream and a TV remote!

The Half Marathon is actually what caused my running meltdown. That was one of the hardest things I've ever done and the training for it was a serious mental mind-Fword for me. I've never been a "good" runner. I don't particularly love running. I love how I feel after I run but I don't love (or really even like) the actual running part. It is the one thing exercise-wise, however, that really does it for me both in the weight-loss department and the sense of accomplishment department. So when I got sucked into the running vortex back in the day, I aimed to do a half-marathon. Never a full marathon, mind you. I'm not that big of a masochist (but I support all you marathon-nuts out there and applaud your insanity!). So when I signed up for training, it was with a group of runners who, unbeknown to me, were training for the Boston Marathon. THE. BOSTON. MARATHON. The one you have to be Kenyan or at least super-fast to qualify for. My best friend did the training with me too and she was much faster than I was but was also very sympathetic to feelings of inadequacy in this training group. Running is a serious mental sport as well as a physical one and if you are messed up in the head, it can seriously hamper your ability to run. So imagine me, even in pretty good shape but still running about a 12 minute mile heading out for training runs with these Boston Marathon Nuts (BMNs). There I was, plodding along and I wouldn't even be halfway out on the run and they'd be on their way back, clapping for me and cheering me on like their own personal chubby charity case. I know the BMNs were honestly cheering me on and thought it would help me but I felt like the slowest, biggest loser on the planet and it totally screwed with my head.

I did the Indianapolis Half Marathon in May of 2004 and then never ran again. Ever. Until recently when I started training for this triathlon. I attempted running again a couple of times before this, but all were epic fails and all were because I had a mental block against it. So you have to understand my complete and total glee right now that I am running again. Slowly of course. But I am back in the game. So much so that even though I didn't get home until almost 8 p.m. last night, and it was already dark, and I had about a million things to do, and ended up having to stay up way later than I normally do, I went out for a run. It used to be that if the moon wasn't in the right house, and the temperature wasn't just right, and the wind wasn't blowing a calm, cool breeze, and the Middle East wasn't at peace, I'd find an excuse not to run. Well, you know what they say about excuses...

Have a great week!

P.S. If you weren't able to comment before because you didn't have a Google account, I've changed it so anyone can comment. Again, please be kind! xoxo