Now, I know hate is a strong word and one that I rarely use, if ever. It's an ugly word , I just generally don't like that word at all. Except when I use it to describe how I feel about running. I hate running. I've never been very good at it and I've never found that calming feeling of strength and solace after running five miles to "blow of some steam" or to get "balanced" out after a long hard day. People who choose to run after a hard day confuse me. Doesn't that make your day harder? More painful? Don't you just want to curl up with a good book or movie? Or better yet, get a massage? These are questions that I've decided to explore as I force myself to do the unimaginable - start running. I have the usual goals of weight loss, fitness and personal accomplishment in mind but even more intriguing to me are runners themselves and what happens when a bunch of them get together. People who actually enjoy the sport and do it - gulp - for fun.
The idea for this blog came to me during my second 5K - the ScopeItOut 5K for Colon Cancer. While my motives are selfish - get in shape (after surgery last year) and weight loss - I realized around mile 2 that I was running with a group of 2000 people on a rainy Sunday morning. Who in their right mind would:
a) cut your night short on Saturday?
b) wake up early on Sunday?
c) take the metro at 7 a.m. to start running from a different location?
d) run in the rain?
There were people of all sizes, shapes, ages and ethnicites. It was amazing! More on this particular 5K in a subsequent post.
So, as a result of this experience and my sudden fasination with all-things running, I've set out to do one 5K/month for one year - various 5K's for charity, races, "fun runs," mud runs and any other kind you can imagine. It's not exactly an enourmous goal in the grand scheme of goal setting but it's big for me.
Will Smith once said that to be successful in life you need to learn how to do two things: Write and Run. Here's to testing his theory.
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Good luck!! I'm adding you to to my blog list at daisiesindc.blogspot.com. I'm running a half marathon in May and the Marine Corps Marathon in Oct. - we can trade nightmare running stories. :)
ReplyDeleteI am one that loves running and is definitely one who does it to 'blow off some steam' and to balance herself after a crazy work day. However, I haven't always been this way...1 mile used to feel like forever (and still does some days). Getting past that first 9 mins is the hardest part of any run...
ReplyDeleteI am also one of those crazy people who relishes the race days - particularly holiday races: Turkey Trot, July Sparkler - short (Brew Run - who doesn't love a beer after a 5K race) and long (Falmouth Road Race running past my wedding venue) and miss them!! Right now with Baby Leo growing, my runs are a lot slower, but I'm still doing it and continue to love it, even on days when my runs suck!
I look forward to hearing as you improve and as you learn to like (maybe love!) running...let's sign up for a race together in 6 months!!
Great Job Megan!!