Yes, so as Patrick and I endeavor to lose weight, we have decided to add a decidedly cardiac element to our workouts. We will be running the Door County Half Marathon at the beginning of May.
First can I show you this image because it's SO true:
But next let me tell you a few things. I have run in half-marathons before, never a full (oh my gosh, are you crazy?!). And I always HATE training. But I always love the actual race. It's so cheesy, but true: there's such a sense of camaraderie and accomplishment at the end.
So, some of you who know me, know I swam in high school. For those of you who swam with me, you know how much I (and almost everyone else) LOATHED dry land workouts. Ugh. Just thinking about it, makes me shudder for my teenage self. I liked being in the pool (I really did, Coach Kyle!), and hate hate HATED running. And jump squats. And pull-ups with Varney.
You might wonder, then, how someone like myself started running or has even continued to do so? For one, as I have started to age (gracefully), I stupidly hate getting my hair wet. Really. That's it. I am so vain! It just takes me so long to dry it and yada yada yada. I mean, I actually only really wash my hair a few times a week. That's how much I hate drying it. For two, I don't really have a pool near me and I'm cheap so I haven't really joined a gym with a pool yet (That's about to change, I'm about to become a very proud member of the WAC!) I don't really like the bike or elliptical. I feel like I have to be on them forever to accomplish anything.
So running it is. I wouldn't consider myself a runner, per se, but I can usually crank out a few miles without stopping. And I enjoy the fact that I can do it almost anywhere.
Patrick, on the other hand, is a natural runner. He can pretty much just drop anything and run 7 or 8 miles without thinking about it. I know, you'd think he'd get injured, but mostly he just gets sore. Actually right around when we first started dating her ran a half marathon in Pewaukee without training at all. I don't recommend it and I don't think he does either. For the record, he is training for this half with me.
But. I've had some pretty weird things happen to me when I run. And I thought I should share them since they're mostly embarrassing and funny stories.
Some funny running stories of mine:
Once upon a time, in college, I lived with a bunch of rugby girls. This was a very fun and interesting time in my life. I have many, many stories I could share with you about that era and those ladies, but I'm going to share with you this one. They all ran a lot for their practices. And I'd get all envious of the weight they'd shed during rugby season and they could all just eat and drink to excess. I, on the other hand, spent most of my leisure time sedentary in the library. I decided to run like the rest of them. My dear friend Katie and Flash took me on a run (I could barely keep up) and I managed to finish with them. It was MAYBE 1.5 miles. But I wanted to do more. I wanted to be athletic! Later that week, I tried to do the run by myself. I laced up my shoes, powered up my iPod and hit the pavement. It was dark outside, and as I turned right onto Sarnia from Franklin, one of the good-looking cashiers from the book store approached me. He was running too! We were running buddies. I straightened up, stuck my chest out and put on my best "oh gosh, I'm, like, such an athlete" look as we passed by each other. I imagined him thinking "wow, what a cute little runner. we should probably run together. I bet she racks up 6 miles a day" or something. I kept running down Sarnia towards Main Street. I was getting, a touch winded and more than a touch....phlegmy. I hacked up a big loogey in my mouth and launched it to my left. In slow motion, cashier boy, comes up on my left just as the piece of snot/spit/nastiness left my mouth. "EW! SICK!" He cries as he tries to catapult above my snot rocket. To no avail. I'm pretty sure I hit him just across his shins. As I splutter "oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" he just kept running, but with a slightly higher step to his run.
And while that is extremely embarrassing in itself, I almost think it's more embarrassing that he clearly was able to make it on some sort of loop and back and PASS ME while I was on, like, .25 miles of my run. I never said I ran fast.
Another interesting story I have is when I was training for my first half marathon. This was almost exactly 2 years ago. My dear friend Leslie encouraged me to do the Disney Princess Half Marathon as a way to get into running. She told me (and she was absolutely correct) that it would be so much fun because it's mainly women and it's a no-pressure type of race and we'd get to go through the Magic Kingdom theme park. Okay so yes, yes, and yes. I was soooooo excited to start training and then go to Florida in February! This was really my first times running in, well, ever. Despite my attempts in college, running really never took (I wonder why!). I began my training in earnest in October starting with short runs a couple times a week then worked up to two shorter runs and a long run on the weekend. Soon, I came to my 10 mile Saturday run. I had mapped out my run on MapMyRun.com and stepped out on the very cold winter day. I set out along the lake and up Lincoln Memorial Drive towards Shorewood. I don't remember what I ate that morning, but somewhere around mile 6, I had SEVERE stomach cramping. Like, holy mother of everything stomach cramping. Like, stop-having-your-legs-go-anywhere-but-clasped-together stomach cramping. I feared for the clean sidewalk and my new nike pants. I was on the corner of Lincoln Memorial and Lake Drive. 3-4 miles back was my apartment, or - lightbulb! - about a mile away was... LESLIE'S! Doing a sort of half-jog-walk-clamp my legs together sort of motion, I finally made it to the Popalisky household. And proceeded to break in. In my defense, I knocked a few times and nobody answered and the back door was unlocked. Hello, do you need to come inside? Please do! the door practically said. As I scrambled into my friend's house, I heard a very confused and slightly scared Leslie, "uhm, hello?" from upstairs. Breathlessly, I told Leslie my predicament and had her drive me home as I didn't want to abuse their bathroom (although I would have had to if nobody was home). In what I still consider one of the longest car rides of my life, I made it to the safety and comfort of my apartment...and bathroom. My ten-miler remained unfinished that day.
BUT (no pun intended)! We had a BLAST doing the Disney Princess half. So much so that we did it again last year! I highly HIGHLY recommend it. Like I said, you get to run through the Magic Kingdom (mile 6ish is right by Cinderella's castle) and there are tons of characters and creatures that you can take pictures with or wave to along the way.
My sister Elise did it, too! We had so much fun going through the parks as adults, it was hilarious.
I really want to do another Disney run, we're thinking of the Epcot one in a few years. Who knows :)
Keep up with us and our training! This week our schedule is:
Tuesday: 3 miles at 10:30/mile pace
Thursday: 2 miles at 10:00/mile pace
Saturday: 3 miles at 11:00/mile pace
We're sprinkling in weight training today and Friday for good measure. My goal is to finish the half in 2 hours and 10 minutes. Patrick can for sure run faster than that, but he wants to run with me in May, so his goal is the same. WHAT A GUY :)
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