I did it! I went running again this morning! And today I had to get up even earlier - at 6am - so I could be back before my husband had to get up and start getting ready for work in case the kids woke up. And I went even farther - 2.4 miles!!! Of course, I did have to walk for about 1/8 of a mile in the middle there, but that's alright... I still did it! My legs are killing me tonight, but no pain, no gain, right? I was feeling so good and motivated that I even did some arm work afterward. I think it's a bad sign that 1) it took me 3 minutes to find one of my free weights, and 2) said "hiding" free weight was literally covered by a cobweb... But, alas, after a scan under the equally dusty and unused treadmill in the basement and a subsequent quick rinse in the sink (for the weight, but I honestly felt like I needed one, too, after seeing what lives under that treadmill!), the weight was as good as new (well, that and because it mostly is new!).
Of course there is a very steep learning curve to this whole running thing, and in my whopping two days so far, I have learned a number of invaluable lessons. Here goes, in no particular order:
1. Go to bed at least 6 hours before you need to get up to run.
2. Preferably lay out your running clothes the night before, with the lights on, so you can make sure your socks will match in the morning.
3. Brushing teeth before running is nice, but actually not horribly noticeable (at least to me) if you don't.
4. Be careful not to throw a shoulder out while trying to put on your built-in-shelf-bra-running-shirt. Taking it off can be equally as dangerous.
5. Running while trying not to drop or otherwise lose your house key is a royal pain in the tush, so either find a place to stash it outside your house, or trust that your spouse would wake up and save your family if some wacko walked in the unlocked back door.
6. As thirsty as you will be, do not gulp 3 pint glasses of water immediately upon returning from your run. Both your stomach and bladder will thank me for this oh-so-important piece of advice.
7. Don't bother trying to map out your route in advance on Gmaps Pedometer, as unless there are only two or three turns, you won't remember it anyway. It is, after all, the butt crack of dawn that you're out there. Putting one foot in front of the other while not getting run over by eager employees trying to beat the boss to the office or disheveled-and-clearly-wearing-last-night's-date-outfit walk of shamers is hard enough.
8. Learn how to operate all the fancy features on your watch before you actually need to use it. Either that, or just stick with the "start/stop" button and don't push anything else for fear that you'll lose any and all data you may want to later reference.
9. I think the jury's still out on this, but I'm guessing they put those built-in underwear in running shorts for a reason? I can't yet bring myself to "go commando," but essentially, I feel like I'm then wearing two pairs of underwear and that feels a bit excessive, even for a newbie like me. And, honestly, if I go "without," then that definitely means I have to wash my running shorts before wearing them again. I'm just not sure I'm really that committed, to either running or laundry...
10. Pee before you leave the house. Twice.
Tomorrow, I've given myself permission to take a day off. Although I'm afraid even one day without running will thwart my motivation and make my only subsequent running be that which I do on my way across the bedroom to hit the snooze button on my alarm for the 8th time that morning before it wakes up the kids, I know it's also good to give your body some time to recoup. Especially when you're just starting and maybe, might have, perhaps, gone a bit overboard... That, and my kids have an 8:30am dentist appointment and I can't even bring myself to calculate what time I'd have to get up if I were to try to run beforehand! For now, I'll just try to keep myself motivated by thinking of the great new running shirts and shorts (yes, built-in-bras-and-panties-included!) I bought today... I can't wait to show them off on Thursday morning!!!
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