So, my wife and I are planning to run a 5k (thats 3.1 miles for the metrically challenged) on July 16th (her birthday) for the Angel Guardians non-profit. She has been working out with a trainer since March, at our local 24 Hour Fitness, and is doing really well. Especially since she absolutely hates running. I am very proud of her.
Anyway, the last time we ran together we went for the whole 5k, with both of us needing to take walking rests during the time. It took me about 34 minutes and it took her about 42. On Tuesday she ran with her trainer and actually ran the whole distance… all 3.1 miles! And beat my time. I was very impressed and proud of her, but a little put off as well, as we have “just a little” competitiveness between us.
So, this morning I got up early and went for a run around our neighborhood. It is quite a challenge as the hills in our ‘hood suck bigtime. I have driven around a couple of times in my car to get ideas of the distances for different paths, and this morning decided to modify one of my paths (on the fly) to hopefully make a 1 mile circuit into a ~1.5 mile circuit and just do two laps… unfortunately I did not add enough, and only wound up running 2.5 miles (shrug). The cool thing is that I ran the entire way, including twice up the really big nasty hill, which I need to post a picture of.
To me, running is a lot of fun. I treat it as an opportunity to push myself. I am always saying “Ok, you’ve made it here, now lets see if you can make it to that mailbox”. It is amazing what breaking up a long run like that into little peices can do for you. It is kinda like software: if you break it into managable peices, the whole becomes easier. The trick of course with software is to break into logical, managable peices. Not much logic is required on the running. I am really impressed with how far I went… I obviously need to go further next time, but I know that I can… and that rocks.
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