Week 2, Run 1

First off, know that I don’t consider myself an athlete of any kind. Second off, I have asthma that is induced whenever my lungs get exposed to very cold air (winter isn’t my ideal time to start running, but it’ll have to do!), so I have to take a good couple doses of my inhaler before heading out to run. All that being said, I accomplished a lot today!

Last week, I looked ahead to this week’s runs and saw that I would be running 6 “circuits” of 1 ½ minutes of running, followed by 2 minutes of walking. Even though it’s just 30 seconds more of running, I felt really intimidated at the prospect. (I find that it’s easy to doubt myself when I feel tired and worn out.)

So I took Saturday and Sunday off to enjoy the New Year. I got plenty of rest this weekend… Well, maybe not on New Year’s Eve, but I was pretty much FORCED to stay up til New Year’s, right? Anyways, I felt really rested this morning, and got ready for my run as soon as I woke up, at about 11am (I’m gonna have to start getting up much earlier when school starts again in a couple days, so I haven’t pushed myself to wake early while I’ve been on break). I could hear the wind whipping outside, so I put on my windbreaker and my new running case that I ordered from Amazon, along with my Angry Birds sock hat, and headed outside.

I can actually say that I enjoyed hearing coach Claire’s voice after a weekend of rest. I was refreshed and ready to go, but, as I started down the road on my warm-up, I began to realize how cold it was. Looking back on today’s weather, I think it was about 25 degrees during the time I ran today, which is awful compared to last week’s highs in the 50s. But hey, that’s Illinois for you!

I decided that, no matter what the temperature, I could do it, because it’s only 30 minutes. So I began my run. The minute and a half didn’t seem any longer than the minute from last week! My legs didn’t hurt and I felt great for the first 3 runs! On the 4th run, my legs began to feel tired, but I didn’t mind; I was grateful they hadn’t bothered me until that point. The 5th run, however, is when it started to happen. I had noticed that the whipping winds (which hadn’t bothered me much til then) were bringing some snow flurries. I was really enjoying running in the flurries, until the clouds broke loose. From the 5th run until the end of the cool-down, it was like I was running in a blizzard! I couldn’t look up, but I still forced myself to try, which made my eyes tear up, which made me look like an emotional freak. But I finished the run and did my stretching inside, as opposed to my outside stretches that I did all last week. I made it, and that’s the important thing.



I can’t wait til I go back to school, when I’ll be staying at my wonderful Nanah’s house in town. I think I’ll be running in the park instead of my current back road. So I guess all the early-morning runners will get to hear my dog-like panting and see my ridiculous running getup? No worries, at least I’m getting in shape, a step at a time!