running. . . part one

i decided to blog about something that suprisingly, has become pretty important to me.  running.  just reading back over that makes me wanna SNORT laughing.  see.,..,., if you'd have told me about 14 months ago that i'd take up running, i would've told you that you were an idiot.  seriously.  in my high school most everyone was in band (i know, it sounds geeky ~ i'll explain in another post) so i was never really presented with an opportunity to get really involved in sports, i guess.  well. . .i did play softball in the summer but that stopped by the time i got into high school.  anyway, the most important fact here is that i never really ran. . . on purpose. . . before february 2010. 

what led me to try something new?  lots of different things. . . mainly i think it was that i wanted to really challenge myself just to see if i could.  i wanted to start something that i wouldn't quit.  i wanted to develop some type of discipline in my life.  i'd turned 35 and it was time to take control of a few things. and of course i wanted to find a way to get into better shape.  so. . . .

how did i get started?  first, i knew i didn't want to join a gym right then b/c i didn't wanna waste the money.  i'd been attending a jazzercise class and LOVEd it, but it was only a few times a week at 9 am.  i needed more flexibility.  so. . .i started the first of january (one year ago) by working out on my elliptical 3 to 4 times a week. . . for a month.  yeah, it was hard.  i hated that thing b/c it busted my tail.  looking for a good workout?  go get on an elliptical for 20 minutes.  so then i waited for a day at the end of january for the weather to be nice. . not too cold.  i just laced up the shoes and got out in the neighborhood.  that was about it. 

now. . i'd be TOTALLY lying to you if i said it was easy in the beginning.  hell no.  (profanity for emphasis only ~~hehe).  i couldn't run to the end of the block before stopping.  and that's the sad truth.  sometimes i ran at a local park.  each time i would push a little farther.  somehow it became a time for me to talk with God.  okay so mainly i was begging for His divine intervention and all, but that's still talking, right?  it took me a couple of weeks to make my first mile w/o stopping and i can still remember it.  i teared up a little feeling all proud.  then i pushed on to two and finally three.  three was definitely the hardest.  it'd been a couple of months by that time.  i remember my calves were burning so bad i was crying by the time i finished three the first time.  then i REALLY bawled and gave God the fist~pump for helping me out.  i bet the other park runners/walkers thought i was cooky. 

i rewarded my 3 mile accomplishment with this:

a  nike plus to go into the bottom of my running shoe.  the other part plugs into your ipod or iphone and it tells you how fast you're going, your distance, calories, and other stuff.  i highly reccommend this for you if you wanna start running. . .or walking even.  it's $29.99 and i've totally loved mine.

okay enough for now.  i'll share more in part two.  thanks for reading :)