One day down

I don't know what made me say yes, but when Sherri asked me if I wanted to do the learn to run program with her, yes is what I said. She did the program last year, and because last winter was crazy with snow and ice, and because she is crazy and has three young kids who all participate in activities while she works full time, she did not run much over the winter and wanted to start it up again.

Anyway, when she brought it up I said yes, because in my heart I am a hopeful gal. I try to suppress it- but sometimes it gets the better of me. I was a little worried though. I am so out of shape. Well I guess a circle is a shape but not the kind of shape that looks good in a bathing suit. If summer ever comes to Ontario again, I may actually have to get in a bathing suit, so, I figure I have to do something about the circular nature of my being. I know it is going to be a painful process, and I am worried that I am not doing it with someone who is at my level. Sherri has done this before, even ran in a 5K race, three kids and all.

So it was with some trepidation that I showed up at her house yesterday evening to have our first "Learn to Run" session. Over a series of weeks, we will meet 3 times each week, and gradually increase the amount of actually running (or in my case s slllllloooooooow jog, then crawling and by the end of it almost slithering) each week.

Last night Sherri explained that we would walk for 2 minutes then jog for one, and we would repeat that cycle 10 times. I looked at her like she was on crack- that seems like a whole lot of jogging for a 5000 pound whale to do on her first night out of the aquarium. All Sherri said was: "We will work through it".

Ok. I thought to myself. Wondering if I should give her the number to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans so she could call them to haul my carcass off the road when we were done.

Before I knew it we were off, and the first few repetitions were ok. Not easy for me, but I could do it. I was breathing like an old man in a lingerie shop but I was doing it.

When we got to the 5th repetition of our 2 minute walk 1 minute jog, I began to notice that the 2 minutes seemed infinitely shorter than the 1 minute jog interval. That one minute was getting longer and longer and I am not even jogging fast. There was a baby learning to crawl on their front lawn as we jogged past, and the infant made it to the light pole at the end of their property before I did.

The 6th repetition was pretty painful. My legs were starting to feel it, and my breathing was gone to hell. I am sure there were points where I wasn't breathing anymore. Didn't really care to either. At around the 8th interval, I was praying for death and looking for a truck to jump in front of, but Sherri's neighborhood is pretty quiet. So I kept going. I wondered how much pounding my legs could take before they just said "Screw this" and fell off.

The last interval was difficult, I was really lagging by this point. Time was going backwards, and my tongue felt like a furry pillow with cat hair all over it. I was hot, I was sweaty, my legs were on fire, but I was done with day 1 of the Learn to Jog Program.

I was pretty proud of myself.

I woke up this morning in complete agony- but still pretty pleased I had done it.

We do it all again on Thursday night. Wish me luck.