Saturday, May 7, 2011

5K

I signed up to run a 5K.

I haven't run. Not really. Not ever.

Jogging at softball practice in elementary and middle school, yes. Walking 40 miles in a weekend-I can do it with the training.

Something is different about running.

There's the jiggle factor. There is nothing cute or comfortable about all the parts of my body that jiggle when I run. My BBW sisters, heck, anyone who knows what it's like to have your thighs wiggle faster then your foot fall, knows how uncomfortable that can be.

There's the sweat factor. I hate sweating. I feel dirty and smelly and uncomfortable. In fact, I shower daily because I am so aware of not wanting to be smelly. You find me smelly, it's temporary. Or at least let me know and I will do something about that.

Then there is the pain factor. I've had shin splints. They such. I had knee problems when I was catching (softball) and was in a knee brace for a while. Don't get me started on my past ankle injuries. Just ask a family member about the number of times I've rolled an ankle for no good reason. The threat of possible pain is enough to prevent me from engaging in a new endeavor.

So why in the world did I sign up for a 5K that needs to be run and not walked?

(Is that previous question grammatically correct? I can't tell. Run? Ran? Whatever.)

One reason: At the end of the race I will get to run across home plate at ATT park.

That is the only reason I will take up running.

Let's not call it running. It's going to be more like jogging. I've been looking at the Couch to 5K (c25k) website, and there is a board for people who are slower called "penguins". I'm going to be a penguin on the road.

The C25K is a 9 week training program. The race is at the end of August. That's 16 weeks away. I spent 20 weeks training for the walk last year. This may be a bit of overkill, but I have limited faith in my ability to make it through the training. In fact, just starting with 20 minutes of 60 seconds jogging, 90 seconds walking seems like a huge deal.

Today is my first scheduled walk/run. It's gusting wind outside up to 25 miles per hour outside. I'm sitting in bed watching the Negotiator on TV, which is a great movie. My cat is sleeping next to me. There's errands to be run, my car needs to go into the shop, and I have a show next weekend which requires a lot of time. There's a list about a mile long of why sitting on my butt at home seems like a better option for today. For life, really.

But. But but but but but but but.

I really want to be able to run across home plate.

I started an activity log on a running website. Just made it the opening website to my web browser.

So here it is. The moment of truth. Am I going to go put on my workout clothes, load up the music that has the intervals pre-recorded (so I know when to walk and when to run), and leave out the front door?

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