welcome to the new year
yes, it's that time again, where we all make unrealistic goals and try to desperately avoid achieving them. my goal is to start running again on a daily (or near-daily) basis. here is my background info:
when i was in 7th grade, our sadistic gym teacher (who, looking back on it, was just doing her job) made us run laps all the time. she was also our science teacher, so if we misbehaved in science, miss nelson would make us pay later in the day with laps. laps laps laps. and i, being the chubby kid who never had to do anything athletic except ride my bike, thought running was a tool of the devil. but one day, miss nelson made us run 45 laps around the tiny gym. i thought, "for sure i'll die! and then my parents will sue her! this might not be too bad after all!" so, when it was our line's turn, we got up and started running. i just zoned out and concentrated on the guy in front of me (keith furstenberg) and before i knew it, we were done! and i hadn't even walked! it was a fucking miracle, really. but that didn't prevent me from whining of shin splints when we took our physical activity outside. so, i gave up on my dream of joining track, thinking that shin splints were an injury i couldn't overcome. that, and i was just lazy.
but in my 8th grade year, i said "fuck it, i'm joining track." and that's what i did. and i lost 25 pounds. without even knowing it. but i did the easiest thing in track, the 50 yard dash. of course, i wasn't protected from relays, but i thought i just wasn't made for long distances, since i hated running them.
the real challenge came in 9th grade when i decided i really hated myself and joined cross country. they started training even before school started, the sadists. so i enlisted the help of my best friend, kristin, who's dad had taught her how to run long distances and she did so a couple times a week. we ran her route in late august, when it was 891234 degrees outside. i thought i was going to die. but i ran the whole thing without the assistance of a defibrillator.
so, i joined cross country and managed to do a 7:54 mile. of course, i was one of the slowest people on the team, but not THE slowest, which would come when i went out again junior year. assholes. of course, i had gained a ton of weight sophomore year and my ass was preventing my forward momentum. that was the last year of cross country for me.
so, i tried to keep running up while i wasn't on a team, which was hard, because i didn't have anyone timing me, i wasn't lifting weights or doing strength or speed training. i just ran. in college, it was harder because i didn't like to run on campus and i was just lazy. but i think that having started running at a young age has made running easier than it would be had i never done it. but i want to build up my running stamina. i want to be able to run as far as i did then, which is... well, i have no idea.
so here are my goals:
by march:
be able to run 5 miles uninterrupted on tread mill.
run in the shamrock shuffle.
start weight lifting.
by june:
be running 10 miles a week outside.
sign up to run some 5ks in the summer.
by the end of the year:
be running 20 miles a week.
maybe by 2007, i'll feel good enough to run a half-marathon, but i don't know if that's the direction i want to go in. it's not that important to me. and doing something that takes 2 hours to do, while you go no where (on a treadmill) seems pretty boring to me. hell, it's hard enough to run for 20 minutes without dying of ennui. but we'll see.
wish me luck!
when i was in 7th grade, our sadistic gym teacher (who, looking back on it, was just doing her job) made us run laps all the time. she was also our science teacher, so if we misbehaved in science, miss nelson would make us pay later in the day with laps. laps laps laps. and i, being the chubby kid who never had to do anything athletic except ride my bike, thought running was a tool of the devil. but one day, miss nelson made us run 45 laps around the tiny gym. i thought, "for sure i'll die! and then my parents will sue her! this might not be too bad after all!" so, when it was our line's turn, we got up and started running. i just zoned out and concentrated on the guy in front of me (keith furstenberg) and before i knew it, we were done! and i hadn't even walked! it was a fucking miracle, really. but that didn't prevent me from whining of shin splints when we took our physical activity outside. so, i gave up on my dream of joining track, thinking that shin splints were an injury i couldn't overcome. that, and i was just lazy.
but in my 8th grade year, i said "fuck it, i'm joining track." and that's what i did. and i lost 25 pounds. without even knowing it. but i did the easiest thing in track, the 50 yard dash. of course, i wasn't protected from relays, but i thought i just wasn't made for long distances, since i hated running them.
the real challenge came in 9th grade when i decided i really hated myself and joined cross country. they started training even before school started, the sadists. so i enlisted the help of my best friend, kristin, who's dad had taught her how to run long distances and she did so a couple times a week. we ran her route in late august, when it was 891234 degrees outside. i thought i was going to die. but i ran the whole thing without the assistance of a defibrillator.
so, i joined cross country and managed to do a 7:54 mile. of course, i was one of the slowest people on the team, but not THE slowest, which would come when i went out again junior year. assholes. of course, i had gained a ton of weight sophomore year and my ass was preventing my forward momentum. that was the last year of cross country for me.
so, i tried to keep running up while i wasn't on a team, which was hard, because i didn't have anyone timing me, i wasn't lifting weights or doing strength or speed training. i just ran. in college, it was harder because i didn't like to run on campus and i was just lazy. but i think that having started running at a young age has made running easier than it would be had i never done it. but i want to build up my running stamina. i want to be able to run as far as i did then, which is... well, i have no idea.
so here are my goals:
by march:
be able to run 5 miles uninterrupted on tread mill.
run in the shamrock shuffle.
start weight lifting.
by june:
be running 10 miles a week outside.
sign up to run some 5ks in the summer.
by the end of the year:
be running 20 miles a week.
maybe by 2007, i'll feel good enough to run a half-marathon, but i don't know if that's the direction i want to go in. it's not that important to me. and doing something that takes 2 hours to do, while you go no where (on a treadmill) seems pretty boring to me. hell, it's hard enough to run for 20 minutes without dying of ennui. but we'll see.
wish me luck!
posted by mikraas at 9:04 AM
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