Saturday January 16, 2010
Running Club today. I am nervous excited to go. We have to be there at 7:45. Aauuggghhh. It feels so early for a Saturday morning. I set my alarm for 7:00 am. Its not that far away nor do I have a ton to do before I go.
I show up a few minutes early, there is already a pretty large crowd forming. I still know not a soul. I must admit, I am slightly intimidated but I don’t care. I want to run. I want to do this. So I pass through little groups of people that already know each other, I can hear them talking about their week, their Friday night, their kids. . . .it will be nice when I know people too. The running coaches start dividing up the groups. Our pace leader is not there. My group and I stand there waiting for our pace leader. The other faster pace groups start leaving. We are still standing there without our coach. I wondered if I should just join another pace group for today? No, I waited.
Eventually our pace leader arrives and we head out. I stuck to my interval run plan, at least initially. I ended up behind two other girls that were interval running, so I decided to mirror their walk / runs. These girls were surprising fast on their run portion. It was time to run and they would dust me, over and over. So when they would walk, I would keep running so I could catch up to them. No sooner than I would catch up to them, they would take off again. It was almost comical for me, I just wasn’t quite good enough. I struggled during the run, I was pretty tired and hungry. Additional, I was experiencing wardrobe malfunction. Lets be honest here, my sweatpants are a bit big these days and apparently all of the extra too big material decided to congregate in my crotch during the run. So I had this big ball of material wadded up in my front. Like I don’t already look like enough of a novice, right? I keep trying to shake it out or pull it down. . . .keep right on congregating. My sweatpants had a party in my crotch. After that I decided that I was going to roadrunner sports and taking the time to invest in running clothes before next Saturday!
We ran 3.5 miles and my pace was slightly slower than usual. I felt good. It feels good to run. I am learning to find a rhythm in my breathing. It is so rewarding to run, just the feeling of doing it. My life stresses and responsibilities have never allowed me time to do things for myself, much less time to be and feel free. When I run, the weight of my life is lifted and I can appreciate the time alone inside my head, the sun on my face, the beautiful view of the palm trees and clouds. Thus far, it is a great outlet for my stress and I am getting in better shape.
Once again, thank you so much to my brother and brother in law (Doran and Imin) for their support and encouragement. I would not have been inspired to try this without you both.
