See Beth Run

Yesterday, I went for a run. It's been awhile...

I used to run quite regularly. In high school I ran cross country and track. Those were the only sports in which I wouldn't completely embarrass myself. All I had to do is run from point A to point B as fast as I could. Which wasn't very fast, mind you, but I loved being on the teams and competing anyway, even if it was mostly against the clock and not other people.

A classic Beth running story is when I was running the 3200 at a high school in our conference. That's 8 laps around the track, folks. Nobody liked running that race, but I don't think my coach knew where else to put me. As usual, I was the last runner in the race, but I was chugging along, doing my thing. I looked up ahead and....ducks. There were ducks on the track. Yes, ducks. Did anyone see fit to help me by shooing the ducks off the track? Nope. I was on my own. I tried yelling and waving my arms a little, thinking they would move. Nope. They stayed right where they were. I had to run AROUND them. Did I mention this was a race? Did I mention I was last already? Thanks ducks, for heaping on the embarrassment. Those people were definitely laughing AT me and not with me. So as you can see, any awards I won for running were usually because the awards outnumbered the runners in the race...

But I truly do like to run. There's something very freeing about just pounding the pavement, breathing in and out, and talking to God along the way. Lately, I've been exercising a little at home. I turn on some music and do some crunches and push-ups and do some generally ridiculous dancing to get my heart going a little. But it's time for something more. When I start reading about my cousin winning running trophies on Facebook(Trophies? Is he really related to me?) and my friend happened to mention she ran 9 MILES last Saturday morning...surely I can do more! Besides, Frank has been going to the gym before work, and I refuse to let him be more in shape than me. If there was a husband vs. wife athletic competition, we would be the laughing stock of the group, but we would probably die trying. We are just competitive like that. A fierce game of horse, croquet, wiffle ball-you name it. You're going down.

Yesterday the weather was perfect for running, so after dinner off I went! It seems there's some areas that jiggle a lot more than they used to...ahem...but other than that, it was a fairly successful run. Not an incredibly long run, but hey, a run none the less. I hope I didn't blind anyone with my white chicken legs. YIKES! I hadn't realized how bad it was until the shorts were on. But as I was running, I came up with a goal. I know myself well enough to know if I don't set any goals, I will run once or twice and not run again until next year sometime. So the goal is by next fall, I will be able to run from my house, around Sullivan Lake, and back home again. I don't know the actual mileage of that, but I'm guessing it's in the 5 to 6 mile range. I'm going to go measure it later this week.

Last night as we were going to bed, Frank and I had a thought. Maybe we could enter a 5K together. Now, I know that we would never be able to run TOGETHER in a race. Our styles are completely different. I'm a slow and steady tortoise. Frank's style is run fast and then take a break a la the hare. Using that analogy...I might win the race! An appealing thought. :) But we both agreed that we would NOT ever win any awards for our age category. Unless we keep running until we're 80. Then we might have a chance if the rest of the competition dies off....

So to keep me motivated and accountable, please ask me during the next few weeks how the running is going. If I know people are going to ask, I might be more likely to stick with it!