I'm One of Those People

NOTE:  I've been writing this post since Thursday, but I made the horrible mistake of trying to post while catching up on a couple of episodes of Downton Abbey.  Try as I may, I can't concentrate on anything other than Maggie Smith and all my other fictional best friends living across the pond.  It occurred to me that if someone would pull a little wagon with a TV playing Downton Abbey episodes in front of me when I'm trying to get through a session, I could run to Nashville and back.  I finally gave up trying to write anything, because nothing I'll write is more interesting than (a) the dilemma surrounding Lady Edith and Marigold, (b) Lady Mary's decision to go away with her suitor, (c) any scene in which Isis makes an appearance, and (d) well, almost anything else in the world.  (And the people said Amen.)


What a difference a day makes.

I still have no idea what happened Tuesday, but Thursday afternoon was much better.  My knees were still a little sore, but not so bothersome that I wanted to duck out of giving it another go.

My coach, Tammy, caught up with me just as the first 90-second run started and she stayed with me for about 10 minutes.  I don't even know how to explain how helpful it was to have her run and walk along with me.  We talked a little about Tuesday's disaster, and she asked about my pacing and if I thought I might have been trying to run a little too fast.  I think she might have nailed the problem on the head...or the knee, perhaps.

While Tammy and I were running and walking, we were able to carry on a conversation (even though I was huffing and puffing toward the end way more than she was), which I know means that the pace was about right.  When I was trying to chug around the track Tuesday, I couldn't have spoken my full name, much less carried on a conversation.  Thursday was much different.  Running the 90-second intervals were easier than the week before, and the three-minute intervals weren't so difficult.

If you've always been a runner, or if you were able to just go out one day and run five miles, then WOW --- you are my hero.  I wish I were one of those people.  You know, the ones who say, "Well, I just decided to start running one day and 12 days later I ran my first marathon.  And I won my age group.  And I didn't have any blisters, and none of my toenails turned black and fell off."

Clearly, I am not one of those people.

I'm one of those people who has to build up to running any respectable amount of time.  I'm one of those people who'll have to follow the training plan Tammy created for me.  I'm one of those people who'll have to focus on one week at a time.  I'm one of those people who'll probably struggle here and there to run the 5K I've signed up for in May.  I'm one of those people who may crawl across the finish line.  And I very well may be one of those people who looks like a goat running through a turnip patch.

But I hope I'll be one of those people who thought she couldn't stick with it and then proves herself wrong.