off and running

For my first NaBloPoMo post, I thought I'd take the easy way out and do a little photo essay, nothing complicated, just a little something on my new running pursuit.

Hah.

I've already spent waaay more time downloading and fixing the pics than I would writing a post, and I haven't even started the actual writing yet.

Geez. I thought I was taking the shortcut.

So, a couple of months ago, my best friend ad this great idea- let's run a 5k together! She had already run one a few months beforehand, and although she wasn't still training, she assured me that it would be easy to get in shape. Never mind that I'm a complete couch potato who hadn't further than the path from the couch to the fridge since college. No problem, I thought. I can do this. I'll just wait until we get back from vacation.

Well, then we went on vacation. And somewhere between the crashing surf and icy gin, I completely forgot about this race. It didn't dawn on me until a week after we came back from vacation. Another week lost. Do I really want to do this, I thought. She'll understand if I back out.

I made the mistake of mentioning this race thing to another friend, who cheerfully promised to remind me to go run every day. And did. Suddenly, I had someone very gently prodding me to go out and do it, every day.

I hate hate hate exercising. I like activities that are fun, and that don't feel like a workout. You know, like biking, and hiking, and eating bacon. Running is probably the most heinous of all exercising, because there is no real reason to be running, on purpose, unless a cheetah is chasing you across the veldt. Or a Cheetah Girl is chasing you across the bar. That would also be a good time to run.

But having someone to be accountable to changed the equation for me. The first few days I didn't want to disappoint someone else. Now it's getting to the point that I don't want to disappoint myself. And that's a huge leap for a girl that couldn't be bothered to walk to the post office, which is a whole block away.

The irony is, that race I was training for...well, by the time I signed up (a full month prior to the race), it was FULL.

*sob*

I couldn't believe it was full. I couldn't believe I wouldn't get to run. I couldn't believe I was so disappointed.

So I'm going to cheer on my friend at that race, and she and I will run another 5k together a couple of weeks after that. And hey, it doesn't hurt this couch potato to have a few extra weeks to train, seeing as how I'm still working on running a continuous mile...but I'm almost there. And even if I can't run the entire 3 miles, I will still finish the race, and that's enough of a victory for me.

Hey, maybe tomorrow I'll get around to showing y'all those pictures.

To Do List-
NaBloPoMo post
365 Days photo
NaNoWriMo

Oops- gotta run!

(I never can resist an easy joke...)