Let's Try This Again

Running, that is.

For reasons still unknown to me, I started running again last week. Shawna and I were training (and I use that word loosely) for the 5K-that-wasn't-meant-to-be last fall. The week before the run, we finally got up to three miles straight. But car troubles on the day of the 5K led to us stuffing our faces at Golden Corral in Midwest City instead of running three miles in Pink, Oklahoma, that day. We took that as a sign, and after that, we pretty much let the whole running thing go.

Since Shawna moved to England several days ago and all my free time isn't spent at Target anymore, I decided I needed something productive to fill my afternoons. And since 2012 is the Year of the Better Me (I plan to lose a few stubborn pounds and pick up twelve good habits), running is what I chose. In fact, running at least three times a week is one of my monthly goals. I have yet to assign it to a month, but more on that later.

Last Tuesday was the first day I ran in months. I honestly expected to die. I voiced this concern to my brother. "You can take some of that C4," he said. "And when I say you can take it, I mean take it." (C4 is a pre-workout something or other. It's supposed to give you more energy during a workout. I have no idea if it's safe or not, and if it's not, I don't want to know.)

The kind Chance has is blue raspberry flavored and didn't taste as bad as I expected, so I downed a glass before heading to the gym. My first indication that it had entered my system and was preparing to give me the workout of a lifetime was a strange tingly sensation in my arms when I pulled up to the gym, as if the C4 was saying, "We're here. Are you ready for this?!"

I walked up to the track above the basketball courts, got my music situated, and stretched my already-protesting legs. After walking one lap, just to get my shoes used to the feel of the track (I didn't want them to freak out on unfamiliar surface), I broke into a run. I experienced the odd tingly sensation a couple more times during the run, but that was the only adverse side effect. I guess the C4 worked, because I ran a mile relatively easily, and it only took me ten minutes.

I did the same thing Thursday, minus the C4. This run was a bit more difficult, but the reason for that is because I was feeling sickly. I'm pretty proud of myself for making myself run a mile and go to Zumba rather than doing what I wanted to do, which was go home after work and sleep until Friday.

I think I'll stick with a mile a day this week---and might even squeeze in a run on Wednesday---but will up my distance to a mile and a half next week. At the rate I'm going, maybe I'll be able to run a marathon by the time I'm thirty-seven.