Last week I received a long-anticipated cardboard box from Amazon.com.
It was an early Christmas gift! (that I purchased for myself)
I have been wanting one of these babies for years now.
I do not take big ticket item purchases lightly. It was Amazon.com’s Black Friday sale that solidified the decision to finally make it mine!
Can you believe that I haven’t taken it for a run yet? There are two reasons for this.
1) I have been waking up in the morning and working out at 5 a.m. per The A.M. Exercise Challenge guidelines. At 5 a.m. it is very dark. I will not run by myself in the dark. I’m very conscious of my safety.
2) The second reason is that I’m scared.
I’m petrified to learn how slow my pace is!
Let me digress. My running prime was in college. I followed no plan, I just ran when I wanted to, which was close to every day. Most days I ran 6 miles, two times around our college’s hilly “perimeter.” (Oh, how I miss perimeter! Such fond memories.) About once or twice a week , the mood would strike, and I would run 9 miles (three times around perimeter.) Each time I ran, I went full out. Sure, sometimes I went for a more leisurely run. And by sometimes, I mean maybe once a month.
Don’t ask me if I ever got burnt out. I didn’t. Don’t ask if I got injured. I didn’t. Maybe hindsight is 20/20, but my recollection of that time is that I was love with running, and running loved me back.
Currently, running and I have more of a love/hate relationship. After college, I moved to Charleston to begin graduate school. Charleston is excessively hot and humid most months of the year. Sauna running and I don’t get along very well, so I joined a gym and began cross-training most days of the week. I started “cross-training” so much that running became my cross-training.
In September of 2007, I decided that I was going to make a deep connection with running again. I was going to run my first marathon. And I did on February 14, 2008. Finishing was the proudest moment of my life. Running and I were in synch again. However, my marathon training included very little speedwork. And it taught me to run slow. Running shorter distances became discouraging because I was struggling to keep a pace that I had previously been able to maintain with ease.
Shortly after my marathon, I discovered Body Attack. It was a welcome change in my exercise routine, as running and I’s pace disagreement had led us to grow a bit frustrated with each other.
That brings me to the present.
I still enjoy running. There’s nothing like listening to my favorite iPod tunes and settling in to a comfortable pace. I don’t really challenge myself anymore though. I usually run for a designated amount of time, and I don’t pay attention to my mileage. I have no clue what my mile splits are.
Well, the Garmin is going to tell me. And I don’t think I’m going to like what it has to say. I’m afraid. Very afraid.
I hope that knowledge is power. I hope that by constantly receiving feedback about speed, distance, and time, that I can significantly improve as a runner. I’m ready to finally increase my pace! If that happens, maybe sooner or later running and I will fall back into love.
Do any of you have a love/hate relationship with a sport? Tell me about it!
Does anyone have a Garmin? Do you think it has improved your running ability?
________________________________________________________________________
On tonight’s agenda:
1) Clean my apartment! I get a two week break from my internship starting Friday evening. Isn’t it so much easier to relax when you have a clean living space?
2) Go to Group Power class at the gym. (Completed cardio this morning)
3) Prepare Christmas cards for my co-workers. I have quite a few, so this could take awhile!
4) Watch another Ugly Betty episode. (The one I watched last night about Daniel resisting the temptation of the cult was a bit lackluster for my taste.)
I know exactly how you feel. I use to run regularly while in college (I had an average pace of 6:30 minute miles.) I wouldn’t say that I was great at running, but I was able to hold my own. Over the last few years it has just seem to go by the wayside. I just cant seem to get motivated to run anymore. I usually blame it on lack of time (a common excuse, I know). I just need to be more like you and MAKE the time. Starting this week, I plan to run 6 miles a week. Hopefully Ill be able to stick with it.
Tim, I’m glad I could be a motivation for you! Good luck with your running goals!
You are going to LOVE your Garmin. I finally broke down and bought one this fall, when I decided to train for a half marathon. At first, I was really intimidated by it, and, like you, didn’t want to know how slow I was going. BUT, it is so cool to see all your miles tracked, down to the second, and it’s terrific motivation for becoming faster and stronger. Over the course of a month, I saw my pace improve from about a 10:30 mile to a steady 8:30-9:00 mile. I’m convinced that wouldn’t have happened without the Garmin there to show me my small improvements, building with each run.
You’re gonna love it!
I really want one. I might actually buy one before we start training for MS150. Let us know how you like it as you train.
I would love to try the Garmin. Keep us posted on how it works for you!
And I wouldn’t worry too much about your pace. It’s awesome that you are just able to get out there and get running. I find that I love running most when I don’t pressure myself. I used to have a love/hate relationship with running when I was constantly pressuring myself to move faster/longer/more often. But now I run when and how I feel like it, and I LOVE running! Great post, I think all runner can relate.
I am the same way, I hate my pace. But LOOVEEE my garmin. I am obsessed with it and feel naked without it now. I have trained for marathons for 3 years and am now focusing on shorter distances and getting faster. RUnning fast isn’t as fun as long slow 3 hour treks with good friends.
Check out my giveaway from Raw Revolution on monicaonthego.com
[...] was once a day that I would stop running at nothing. I had a much more maniacal approach to running in my college days. In the past 4 years, I’ve become much more forgiving with my running schedule. Of course, [...]
[...] have I suffered a serious injury. I’m blessed with a strong body that can do things like run marathons and participate in fitness [...]
[...] no secret running and I have had a love/hate relationship for quite some time now. Let me [...]