A new challenge
October 5th, 2009 § 2 Comments
Well something else I have learned since turning 25? I am still a pretty big procrastinator. While I would love to write every day, I find myself not jumping into the habit right off the bat. That being said, please bear with my spontaneity as we go!
So I left off with the event that sparred all of this. Let me continue!
Over the last few years, I have drifted in and out of having an interest in fitness. When I was living outside Philadelphia working as a writer/server I didn’t exactly have ample time to hit the gym. But there was one golden month or so that I did, religiously, following a work out plan my cousin constructed for me. Paired with a diet change to clean food and mostly natural and organic, I shed 10 pounds. I was ecstatic. Then I went on a little vacation to Nashville and when I came back I lost most of that motivation. I can’t point my finger at a good reason why, I just stopped caring so much (and um, socializing more).
Fast forward about a year, and I got into it again. I wasn’t super serious, though. I switched jobs and my mind was everywhere with adjustments. I tried the old plan that was successful before and it just didn’t pan out the way I wanted to. At that point, I was doing 20 minutes of the Galloway method on the treadmill, barely able to run for more than a minute at a time.
I can’t exactly pinpoint when or why, but all of a sudden something changed. I decided to run and make it mean something. I got serious again. For the next 7 weeks I trained hard. I ran four or more days a week, I hit the outdoor trails, I pushed myself.
Then I made a profound statement.
“I really need to go to the dentist soon. Yeah, I need to get on that.”
Enter excruciating tooth pain. On Labor Day weekend. When my parents were packing up my childhood home and moving 1,000 miles south to Texas.
To make a long, long story short, I ended up spending my last day in my hometown in the Emergency Room for three hours. I was completely drugged up when I said my goodbyes (had a DD!) and ended up back in the ER two nights later with swelling up my whole face that belongs in some medical journal. What I was suffering from was an abscessed tooth that infected me up to my sinuses and took nearly everything out of me and shaved 10 days off my training.
When I got back to it, I was hesitant about running. While I was upset I had missed out on precious time, I was scared I was going to do something to hurt myself even more. It took a couple of easy paced work outs, but when I started running again, I did the unthinkable – I ran a whole mile without stopping. I had never, not once in my life, done that. I just kept setting a goal with time, then once I surpassed it, I thought, “well, why stop there? Now I’ll shoot for this..” By the time I knew it, 1.0 miles was behind me and I had done something I never could have imagined.
For about three days prior to the race while I rested my legs and body, my nerves kicked in. It rained. I worried. When Sunday rolled around, I rushed to get ready and we headed down to the start. The rain continued and we stretched and waited, stretched and waited.
Finally, we lined up and the gun went off. We weaved our way from the back of the pack and ran the first mile strong downhill through University of Pittsburgh and Carlow College’s campuses. We stopped once between each mile and pulled each other through when the other was struggling. As soon as we turned the corner to Point State Park, I hit my wall. I felt like throwing up. I didn’t care that there were people everywhere. I ripped off my headphones – the music was making me sick. Carrie looked back, grabbed my arm and said, “No!” Thank goodness for that pull. We neared the finish line, passing her family and as we crossed, she grabbed my hand and we finished with our arms up high. It was quite a moment.
I was pretty bummed when I saw the clock as we finished at 41 minutes. I totally forgot that our chip time would be different coming from the back of the pack. When we got the heads up the times were posted and that we came in under 40 minutes, I was back on cloud nine – a runner’s high second wind if you will. The rest of the day consisted of sleeping and eating.
Since then, I have given myself a bit of a break and only run twice – just this Saturday I ran through Center City Philadelphia – what a great morning – and found myself easily tired and winded.
The solution to my sluggishness lies in me signing up for another race, which I plan to do this week. The 5 mile Turkey Trot in Austin, TX is on Thanksgiving morning around the University of Texas campus. This is definitely a step up for me, and I am once again nervous, but the nerves are a good thing! I’m starting to get serious…..tomorrow morning! For real, there will be no procrastinating when it comes to this!
Cait! I love your blog! It will give me something to read everyday at work! So you best keep it up everyday! Also, I wanted to tell you how proud I am of you for completing the 5k! I know how hard it is. I am going to run my first 1/2 marathon in March.. wanna do it with me??
[...] Not but eight months ago, I couldn’t maintain a jog for more than two minutes. Before my first 5K, I had never run three miles. Prior to my Turkey Trot, I had never run more than four. Today as part [...]