Monday, April 12, 2010

spare parts

though sadly i haven't had the chance to pursue my breakdancing dreams lately, i've been trying to stay fit so i can hit the dancefloor running (or walking on my hands) someday. usually i set a goal of twenty to thirty minutes of running, then move on to other machines. i generally try to set a low goal so i can feel awesome when i surpass it.
last week, i was having this weird pressure/tension in my chest, and whatever caused that, worrying about it made it even worse. i don't feel like i have much real stress in my life these days, so it was unexpected. i knew i needed to just run that stress out of my body. this has become my solution for everything; run, pray, sleep on it, feel better the next day. that day i kept seeing in my head: an hour...an hour...run for an hour. i'd never run more than 40 minutes without stopping, and i hadn't even done that very many times.
let me get math-y on you for a minute. the difference between 40 minutes and an hour, while only 20 minutes, is 50% more running than you've already done. even one minute can feel interminable. i was curious to give it a try, though.
i put on some new music that was mentally-involving, set a nice pace, and went. after half an hour, i thought, "this might be possible." i was having some knee and hip pain, but it wasn't too bad. after 45 minutes, i was sure i could do it. and i did! when i stepped off, i felt amazing! amazing and also in a little bit of pain. i made it out of the building but soon found myself dragging my stiff legs around in a ridiculous arthritic mannequin walk, but i didn't even care; i was a triumphant mannequin!

5 comments:

  1. Congrats on making it an hour.

    It's amazing how adding that little bit is sooo much. They told me it was the last six miles in the 26.2 that kills you. I laughed. I mean, after 20, what is another 6.2.

    It took me a month to recover. Talk about walking like a mannequin.

    Keep it up...most of all, Enjoy!

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  2. thanks; that's amazing! at this point, it's hard to even fathom running another 3-4 hours! ow however, having accomplished this, it does make some other things seem a lot more achievable!

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  3. you're the cutest dork...I love you and miss you! way to pump the endorphins. this post was very you!

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  4. super impressive and inspiring! you're right though you can do it if you keep going. nice work! you should see the boston marathoners when they are done, now those are mannequins. I don't blame them.

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  5. haha. i think if i tried to run a marathon at this point, there would only be a few parts LEFT that would cross the finish line...just a pair of feet and shins, maybe, or some crawling hands.

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