Little Miss Moon Blossom

For months I've been thinking and talking about running. I've read a lot about how running is the simplest way to get healthy, to get in shape and to lose weight. But running never seemed simple to me. I could never understand why anyone would ever want to just go.... run. I always thought it would be boring and figured running without a destination seemed silly. So instead I choose the elliptical or the stationery bikes at the gym. Talk about going nowhere!

I had tried running in high school. I knew a girl who dropped weight like CRAZY and when I asked how she did it-- she said she simply started running. Sounded simple enough so one morning I got up earlier before school-- drank a fruit smoothie and headed out in my neighborhood. Within minutes I was bent over gasping for air, feeling like a failure. My lungs couldn't handle this! I blamed it on "sports asthma" and gave up on the idea.

Come to find out.... six years later... I had taken the completely wrong approach. Of course I couldn't just start running out my front door full speed ahead! Our bodies can't go from sedentary to full motion; they need time to adjust. So, with the help of my boy (who is a runner), I did some research, read up a lot and started running two weeks ago.

Wow! The difference it makes when you pace yourself! Everything I read said to start a successful running program you had to start with a run/walk program. And that's what I did. Starting from scratch most people can run at least 30 seconds without stopping. Since I walk around for 8 hours at work-- I figured I could run for a minute straight. Let me tell you-- going from 30 seconds to 60 seconds seems like such a small addition of time. But at 40 seconds I was dying for 60 to come. Then I would walk for two minutes before running another minute.

But it always got easier. The first day my legs were sooooo sore and my heart felt like it was gonna beat right out of my chest! But the second and third and fourth day only got easier. And it's incredible how much more beneficial running is to any other exercise I've ever done! After running the muscles in my legs were sore... but also in my abs and arms and places I didn't even know I had muscles! Most specifically right behind my ankle. How weird!

What's even weirder is how much I love it! And how I still want to go every time. Today I was scheduled to run 1:30 then walk 2 mins... do this 8 times then at the end try to run for 2 mins. Derek was running alongside me at the end and I was distracted and when I looked down at the clock I realized I had run for 2:30 and the car was in sight so Derek said, "Just run to the car then you can stop". By the time I got to the car it was 2:40 and my curiousity got the best of me.... Could I run for 3 mins straight? 20 more seconds was all it would take. And I did it! When that 3 min mark hit I felt like dying but at the same time I was SO proud! Just earlier that day I had thought it impossible to run for 1.5 mins and then at the end had doubled my time! What a fantastic feeling! I almost cried, haha.

So much of running is a mind game. Now when I go back out to run, three minutes won't seem so impossible since I know I've done it at least once. And in a couple of weeks when I'm running for 10 mins straight (which seems CRAZY right now), it will be cool to look back to this day and remember how proud I was over 3 mins. How cool. :)