Last Place Runner

I ran my first-ever mile on Friday.

Friday was Halloween and we live close to an elementary school. There are tons of kids in the neighborhood, and after encountering a few on bikes earlier last week, I knew I didn’t want to try to run after work on Friday with 200 Elsas and 205 Olafs. My Thursday run was 12 minutes and Friday had 15 scheduled. So I decided to suck it up and run during my lunch break.

I packed up all my stuff so I could change at work. But then I couldn’t decide where to go — the trail system runs parallel to my massive office, but it also leads straight across one of the most congested intersections in the region. So, I wasn’t too keen on that. I could change, drive to the dog park, and do my run over there. Then drive back, change, and … what about lunch? So, in the end I decided to just come home and run during lunch.

So that’s what I did. I had the streets to myself, which was great, but the wind was awful. I felt like I knew exactly what Bob Seeger meant in his song “Runnin’ Against the Wind.” I thought I would warm up some while I was running, so I went out in short sleeves. Bad idea. The wind had an awful bite to it. And at this point in my training, it doesn’t take much for me to slip into “I can’t do this!” mode.

Luckily, I’m naturally stubborn and bossy, so I kept myself on task. I knew I was going to run a mile on Friday. Because who can’t run a mile in 15 minutes? Jesus! But I can’t run a mile in 15 minutes. When my GPS watch hit 15:00, my mileage was at .99. I was not about to give up, so I kept going another five seconds or so and made it to the mile. It was amaze-balls.

Saturday was a rest day. I had seen on Facebook that my running shop had gotten the 2015 Brooks Adrenaline running shoes, so the old models were 40% off. That’s my running shoe! Even though my old pair is in no danger of wearing out soon, a bargain is a bargain. And who am I to not buy shoes on sale? So now I have a new pair for backup.

My husband and I also went for a bike ride Saturday afternoon. I wussed out at one point and had to walk my bike a few yards. He was all, “Use your gears!” and I was all, “My whatever-these-are hurt!” And he was all, “Those are your quads!” And I was like, “They’re on fire! I am a better runner than a biker!”

At one point, my husband said, “You probably want to run today.” And I admitted that I did. Not because I was addicted, like he said I was, but because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to go out today and run 15 whole minutes like I’d done on Friday.

Later that evening I walked down to the store in our neighborhood for a head of lettuce. I was tempted to run some, but looking at all the squashed Halloween candy on the streets and sidewalks kept me focused.

I got up and did my run first thing this morning. It was another 15 minutes and I vowed I would not look at my watch until I got close to where I’d hit 15 minutes on Friday. I was going along feeling pretty good. I felt like I was going a lot faster than I was on Friday, so I finally checked my watch. At about the 7-minute mark, I was just one street away from where I was at 15 minutes on Friday. I started to feel pretty smug that I had taken that much time off my pace since Friday. But when I realized I shorted myself a block from the route I ran Friday, I wanted to curse the heavens.

We went to Springfield today to visit my husband’s uncle in the nursing home. After that, we decided to stick around town for some lunch and some shopping. We ended up stuck in traffic near the finish line of a half marathon! I got to see a woman come from way behind and zoom past a pack of other runners and through the finish line. It was so amazing! I rolled down the window and cheered for her. She smiled and then took the hell off for the finish.

Tomorrow is when shit starts getting real. Tomorrow is 18 minutes. Fifteen minutes is how long you have to put pants on after you order Domino’s. Eighteen minutes is like a DVR’ed sitcom if you fast forward through the commercials. The running times increase quickly and I just have to keep reminding myself that a couple of weeks ago, 5 minutes of running seemed like something only a lunatic would do.