I Want to Run Away With Me

I haven't really bothered to run anywhere, for anything at any point since the 8th grade in 1993. The occasional trudge on the treadmill has been all I've dained to do. In the last few weeks I've made it my mission to get in the best shape I could possibly be in. I've always liked exercise is some form. I walk and weight train, practice Pilates and Fluidity and even do the occasional Denise Austin work out. But I have always detested running. Probably because it's the most disciplined exercise I can think of and I have a complete lack of discipline in many areas of my life...


About three weeks ago I decided to try running because it was something I could do with my family and it kept me outside this time of year. Since then I've mentioned wanting to run a marathon in January, 2011. I'm making progress and meeting mini-goals pretty rapidly and am happy to report that I should meet my goal of running 3 miles in less than the two week time span I've given myself. And afterall, that's how a marathon is run, one mile at a time. I've really enjoyed my husband and children's company on my practice runs. They give me distraction, conversation and motivation. I alternate running and walking several times in the course of one of our outings. I'll run ahead then walk back to my family then walk with them a while and repeat. I'm trying not to push myself too hard right now. I want to go further every time I run and push past the obvious discomforts that a novice like myself will suffer in the beginning.  At the same time I know that if I push too hard I'll likely injure myself or over strain my muscles and not be able to run again for a few days and that's the last thing I want. For now I'm running every other day and weight training on the days I'm not running. I'm making the necessary adjustments in my diet which haven't been all that difficult as I enjoy many healthy, natural foods anyway. For now I would say the most difficult part of this new endeavor is finding a place to rest my mind when I run. As I progress I know I'll surely settle into a pattern of thought. But for now my mind is scattered and I'm finding it difficult to focus on anything other than the cinder blocks I feel are attached to the tops of my thighs. Granted they've gotten lighter in recent days, but they're still there. I know this will improve in time; They're only mental cinder blocks afterall.