The First Day

Wowsers. I am pooped. Today was the first day since I made my game up two days ago to run a half marathon that I actually went out and ran. I was so excited and even went out and bought some cute new running clothes: tank top, little shorts/skirt (you know, like a tennis skirt), and a new sports bra (which I LOVE by the way.) So I get all geared up, new clothes... my running shoes that my husband got me for Christmas two years ago that have been barely used... my hair up in a ponytail, I'm ready to go! John came with me, but was on roller skates because my brother borrowed his tennis shoes and for some odd reason had removed the shoelace from one of the shoes! And Russ wasn't around at the time to ask him where he had put the shoelace (and WHY he had removed it for that matter!) So he went out on roller blades.

We live on top of a hill and across the street from a park with a bike path that goes through it. So I easily jogged down the hill and John's scared to death on his roller blades cause his brakes are worn down and this hill is like at a 45 degree angle! But we make it down and cross the street and get over to the trail at the park. I've never ran on this particular trail, so I don't know which way it goes and how far. I chose to go to the right first and jogged down a little slope, under a bridge and back up the slope on the other side only to realize that the trail came to a dead end. Okay then, we'll go the other way! So we turned around and started jogging the other way. I jogged for about the first ten minutes straight and was exhausted. I think if I was by myself I would have just laid out on the grass and vegged for about an hour before I went home. But having someone with me helped push me a little farther than that. So we kept going. I started walking and didn't think I'd want to jog again, but I knew I had to. So I picked out a little landmark in the distance and said to myself, okay, I'm running to that point and then I'll walk some more. (well, I'm not really RUNNING, I'm jogging at a slow to moderate pace.) I jogged and started walking before I made it to that little landmark cause I was so pooped. I started thinking, okay, so maybe this wasn't the best idea to try to run 13 MILES in a half marathon!!! I can't even go for fifteen minutes straight without wanting to DIE! Then I started to compliment myself on the game I had chosen, because at that moment it was looking pretty impossible to me! K, I'm going to do this. My "impossible" game!!!

So I just kept repeating this pattern of walking for a bit, then picking a landmark and jogging to it and then walking again. At one point we were nearby a pond (unknowingly at first) and came across hundreds of little baby frogs. I only saw one at first and was so excited and felt like a little kid again by catching it in my hands just for the sake of catching it. It immediately peed all over my hand and although it didn't surprise me or gross me out greatly, (it's a frog, what do you expect it's going to do?) I didn't know much else what to do with it after a few minutes of cupping it in my hand and peeking in at it, trying not to let it jump out of my hand to its death down below because it's such a distance for a little frog to go! So I leaned back down and let him go. Then wondered what to do about all this frog pee on my hand. I didn't want to wipe it on my new cute clothes, and I looked at John's shorts and he said "no way!" and started getting away from me. I pleaded with him, "come on! Your shorts are dirty anyway!" Then I thought of the grass and walked over onto a nice grassy spot and was about to wipe my hand when I realized the grass was moving with frogs! Holy cow! There's tons of them! John noticed it at the same time I did. So I wiped my hand off and then carefully, not wanting to step on any, backed away out of the grass. We stood there and mused over the frogs for a few minutes and then started on our way again.

I continued to walk then jog and every time I was walking I thought to myself, "I just can't run one more time. I just don't have it in me!" And the other part of myself would say, "yes you do... you've got it in you! You've got to push yourself to the limit! That's what this is all about!" So I'd sigh and agree and start jogging again. I did this until we finally came to the end of that trail. It had been about 45 minutes since we had started. We turned back around and I started jogging but then stopped and just walked and walked. I really didn't know if I could jog again on the way back. But then that "push it to the limit" thought came to my mind again and I knew I just had to. It was HARD!!! I was exhausted and so thirsty too!

On the way back, John would roll down the hills and so he'd be way ahead of me. I just turned it into a game that every time he started to go faster than me that I'd have to jog until I'd caught up to him. Oh man. That was hard, but it kept me going. We eventually made it to a water fountain which I drank from for about three minutes without breathing and then turned around and realized we could see the street going back up to our house. Hallelujah! We took a little shortcut through a cemetery and just when I thought, "Yaay! I'm done running for the day!" John tells me, "you know, you should always end your runs with a sprint. It doesn't matter how far you go, just when you sprint at the end of a run it helps to build your endurance." I wanted to fall over. I couldn't even remember the last time that I had ever sprinted! But I sucked up my guts and started sprinting. I heard John exclaim in surprise, "Wow! You're fas... holy cow! You're going fast!!" And with every exclamation he made, it pushed me to go faster and faster till I made it to the end of the street. That felt really good actually! John caught up to me and said, "wow! You're quite the runner there!" (see! I know I have it in me!)

It wasn't until we crossed the street that we realized the torture was still ahead. Remember that 45 degree angle hill that I so easily jogged down? Yeah, well, it wasn't so easy going back up. That was one of those moments you just wish you could sprout wings and fly. Finally we made it up the hill and I was so grateful to finally get back into the house. I took my shoes and socks off immediately and had a blister on one foot. I stretched a little and then went to change my clothes because we had a meeting that we were late to. What an experience. The only reason I'm writing this is because I am DETERMINED to win my game! And it really is one of the hardest things I have pushed myself to do in my whole life. Actually, probably the hardest. Seriously. I'm really having to push myself and it hurts. I don't want to go running tomorrow. I don't want to. But I DO want to win my game and so I will do what it takes. And I certainly have got a lot of running ahead of me if I'm going to win this game so I better keep a movin! Keep rooting for me! Your support, encouragement and energy is going to be what keeps me going!!!