Running: Not Quite the Blissful Meditation I've Heard Of...but I'm Trying
Perhaps it's because I'm getting married in September and I keep thinking about how I'd like to look and feel in my dress. Maybe it's all the running ads that talk about "can't wait to get out there and hit the pavement" that make running look so blissful. People who are good at it make it look easy, hardly breaking a sweat, smiling and saying hello as they pass. For many years now I've thought it would be marvelous to be a runner and a musician. I feel like you could use both of those hobbies as wonderful outlets if you had a bunch of energy pent up and weren't sure what to do with it. Bang the keys, bang the drums, or hit the pavement with a beat.
But, alas, I seem to have to have no talent for music. And so I'm trying my hand at running again. I first tried back when I visited a Running Room with a friend and realized I really liked their clothes! And asked for their gift cards for Christmas. I bought the gear and assumed I'd slide cooly into the sport. It was Winter. My lungs complained. And there was nowhere to put all my Kleenexes! Now wonder you see runners with fanny packs. I think I tried twice and then hung up the sneakers. (I still have the clothes a decade later though.)
Today marks my second Monday run. I can't remember the last time I tried to run, so when I got started last week, I had zero expectations and assumed I'd be mostly walking. I surprised myself! I timed the run and was pleased with my result: 5k in 34 minutes. Today's time was the same, but I know it isn't going to be a steady linear path. And, let me tell you, it doesn't look pretty out on the trails either! Tears running down my face, exhaling spittle everywhere, somehow becoming so humid in my jacket that water flows down to my hands. But it's an amazing way to start my week! The first week my shins killed me; this week they're doin' ok. Who knows, maybe next week I'll shave a minute off. Hats off to all the other people learning to run out there! Maybe I'll be at a point where I can say "hello" with ease as we pass on the trails.
