Not So Bad, Actually

Last week, I started running.... "for fun." The old me never would have considered it, but the new me figures it's worth a shot.

I was really stoked to get started on Tuesday. My class that evening was cancelled, so I took that as a sign to get going. I spent the entire day psyching myself up. I ate a light dinner around 6:30pm, then headed to the gym at 8. I got on the treadmill, did a 5-minute warm-up, and started jogging in 2-minute increments for 20 minutes (2 minutes jogging, 2 minutes walking - you get the idea). When I was done, I felt physically ill. My stomach was killing me - I thought I was going to throw up. My neck and shoulders were so tense; I couldn't get my muscles to relax. My upper back was tight, too, and no amount of stretching helped. I went home, took a hot shower, and went straight to bed to avoid possibly vomiting.

I woke up the next morning feeling absolutely fine, but the memory of the night before made me wary of trying again. It wasn't until Saturday that I went back to the gym to face the treadmill. This time, things went my way. I started off for 20 minutes on the elliptical to warm up my muscles, then did some weights before running. I stuck with my routine of 2 minutes on, 2 minutes off, and I have to say -- I felt amazing. I was able to do it with relative ease, which is something totally new to me. I truly thought I was starting to conquer this "fear" of running. I went out to dinner with some friends afterward, and one of them told me that running takes a few times before it catches, so that made me even more optomistic.

I'm hoping to be in pretty good shape by the time that 5K comes around in late April, so we'll see how that goes!