Run my hood.



Week 2 (C210K)



Running in my neighborhood usually occurs on the weekend. I ran on Sunday and it was the same as every run I've had in my neighborhood.  I see the same people out walking their dogs, have the same dogs try and chase me, and know that when my C210K tells me to "run now" it's often in the same spots. I know where the pavement is uneven, know when I hit a mile before my application tells me. 

When I trained using my C25K it was warm out, people watched me run, some said good morning. I imagined that people saw my progress. I never imagined people saw the awkward faces I make, or the shouting at myself to "fucking get through it." But people see those things and hear those things too. For one part of my run I am on the main drag of our town. I know what I think when I see someone running or biking early on the weekends. I think that person is crazy. Mix in some weather that you'd need a jacket for and most people driving past you think you are crazy.

Here is what is crazy for me. It's week two of running. When I was in about week five of my C25K training this was my neighborhood run. It was 1.62 miles for a total time of 31.31. It's week two and I'm almost at 3 miles in 48 minutes.

Week 5 (C25K)

Right now in C210K's week two I run for 1 minute and walk for 4 minutes and I repeat this eight times. In C25K's week five I was jogging for 5 minutes and walking 3 minutes for a total of 31 minutes.

Do I feel good? Yes I do.

D., reminded me to stretch out really well after my run. So it was stretch central on the kitchen floor. Then it was a glass of water, two aleve's and my ice packs (with a little Ellen Page on the big screen)

On a side note, I was watching Whip it. If you know me, you know that was a big thing for me. To consciously choose to put the movie on and enjoy it without any associations.

A lot of good things happened to me on this run today. My running image shifted. I talked briefly about having a mantra or running image in my post 9 Weeks ago I never really let anyone know what my image was. I mentioned it once to one person. It used to be one person at the finish line standing there cheering me on. Now, it's larger. It makes me smile. It's my image and I probably won't give it up to anyone until after The Boilermaker.