A very wise co-worker and I were having a conversation the other day. He said that in his "post-teacher" life he wanted to be a stand-up comic To that end, he was writing down funny experiences and quotes that he came across. I said to him that I would like to write a book some day. "I'm a really good writer," I said. "I just suck at coming up with plots." He responded, "You don't have to come up with plots, just write small things - conversations, characters, experiences. Just write something!" I realized he was right. So this is me just writing something.
I ran 3.25 miles tonight. All in a row. Without stopping. This might not sound like much of an accomplishment but it really, really is. You see, I just turned 45 years old and I have never been a runner. Occasionally in my life I made the attempt to run. I'd get up to being able to run a mile or so. I once trained for a bi-athalon (biking and running) and I made two miles - but just barely. I just really didn't like running and I never experienced that runners high that people talk about.
Then my 45th birthday loomed on the horizon. I realized that I was feeling old, tired, and fat. I decided that I didn't want to turn "old" and feel it too. So I bought myself a treadmill and a TV. I put the treadmill in my oldest daughters now vacant bedroom and mounted the TV in front of it. I got the TV hooked up so that I can watch TV and I can watch "on demand" shows. Then I started to run.
At first I was really bad. My treadmill has a blinking display that shows your progress around an imaginary quarter mile track. At first I could only make it one lap. I'd walk a lap, then run a lap. Then I'd walk two laps to recover. Then run one more. And I was very, very slow. But I figured at least I was trying.
I thought that it would be good to have a goal. I picked a fun run a few months in the future and decided I would train for that race. I would have a deadline and a distance that I would need to be able to run by that deadline. The run is a 5K which means that I would have to be able to run 3.1 miles in three months time.
My goal was to just run a little farther each time. Even if it was only a few feet farther. Pretty soon I could do two laps, then three. I was so excited the day I ran a whole mile! Slowly I got further and further. Until tonight when I ran 3.25 miles. Thirteen laps. And it felt good.
The best part is, I don't feel old at all.
