Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Motivation

Running is hard work again. With my foot bothering me this spring, I decided to give my poor arch a chance to heal, and only ran a few times all summer long. But it's time to get back to work.

For the past 3 weeks, I have gotten up at 6 am to get my run in. And it's been tough! Whew!

Last year at this time we were in South Dakota, and I was getting up at 6am (just like I'm doing now) to run for a half hour (just like I'm doing now) and it was a peaceful way to start my day. It was rare that I would see a person, or a moving car on my whole run. I would occasionally see a paper boy or someone walking a dog, but mostly it was just me and the sunrise.

Here's how my run went this morning:

When my watched beeped at 5:55am I told myself I would run in the afternoon. But after about 2 minutes I talked myself into getting out of bed to at least go on a walk. I put on my running shoes, turned on my iPod, and, singing along with ABBA, walked out the front door at 6:08am. It was a little cool this morning, maybe in the 70's, and though it was bright out, the sun was still behind the mountains to the east of us, so I didn't have to worry about the sun in my eyes.

I stopped at the curb to stretch my calves and noticed several soldiers walking through the parking lot near our home, headed to the field behind our house. They were each wearing the required black shorts, grey ARMY t-shirt, and attractive day-glow orange belt. I had on grey shorts, and a pink shirt. No belt. I felt a little under accessorized.

I started jogging through our quiet neighborhood, and it seemed to be a lovely peaceful morning until I decided to go left instead of right, and I encountered a huge pack of soldiers stretching out for their morning PT. I'm not sure why this surprised me, I know they're out there every day, but I guess just forgot.

This is the point where I start to feel a little silly. Is my stride okay? Is my sports bra doing it's job? Please don't trip on the curb...

I got past them and began to enjoy my run.

When my watched beeped 15 minutes, I headed back toward home and I really wanted to walk for a minute, but there was a group of 6 Army guys a little bit ahead of me, heading my way, and I didn't want them to see me walk. So I kept running.

Then I went around a curve and I was definitely going to walk, but there was another couple Army girls and I didn't want to look like a wimp, so I kept running and I found that I didn't really need to walk after all. By then I was nearing our neighborhood and I saw that the field was full of Army guys (and girls) doing different exercises with their groups. Some were doing lunges, some were doing push ups, some were laying on their backs doing crazy bicycle legs, some were doing pull ups at the bars, but most were just standing, facing the road I was running on... so I had to keep running...

...and wiping the sweat off my mustache and brow (I am sweaty, okay. And also it's a little humid here.) I happened to look down and I noticed that my pink shirt was sweaty in a not-so-attractive way, and I wished I had worn my black t-shirt....waaaa...

I usually feel almost invisible, but this morning I felt like an awkward middle schooler - like every one's eyes were on me (though I'm sure that wasn't really true.)

I was embarrassed, and feeling a little silly, so I gave myself a pep-talk as I had to turn the corner and run right along-side the field: no one is looking. no one cares. you look marvelous. nice legs. go wendy!

I ran the entire 30 mintues this morning, and I felt great! I miss the peace of a quiet morning run, but it's always motivating to run with the Army!

9 comments:

Lana said...

I want to like running, really I do. BUt really I just like warm chocolate chip cookies.

Mary said...

Way to go Wendy! You ran the whole time! And I'm impressed you were able to wake up at 6 to do it. That's not happening here. But when I do jog, I have a hard time starting to jog or going from jogging to walking if there is someone who might see me in a car or on the sidewalk. Whey is that so embarrassing?

nikko said...

Go, Wendy, Go!

Rachelle Jones said...

GO Wendy GO!

So proud of you.

I loathe running.

I am a walker!!

Deanne said...

You inspire me! But not enough to get me out of the house before the sun has had a chance to warm the earth! And I don't run. But, I do go to the gym and sit on a stationary bike for 25+ minutes a couple times a week! I've lost a couple pounds over the course of a month or so. *big cheesy grin* And that is motivation enough to keep me going back (that and Caleb asks to go so that he can play the video games in the child care area).

Tori :) said...

You are so good Wendy. I went running this morning and I guess I've just never found my niche. I hate it the entire time!! I plan my whole run around when I'll stop to walk for a second. Maybe I should run thru a neighborhood instead of on a track...
You're awesome!

Amanda said...

Phew!!! 30 minutes of running! You are awesome! Great motivation...are you going again in the morning? At least it is in the 70's there in the mornings. They are saying we are going to have frost here tonight. Brrrrrr....

Super Happy Girl said...

Woo hoooo Weeeendyyyy!!
Before I twisted my ankle I was up to 4:15 minutes of jogging.

Yeah.
So you are super cool in my book!
(Always have been, but now even more)

Unknown said...

You are soooooo much like me. Whenever anyone is around, I always go faster and put on my game face.

Nothing like a little extra motivation!