Thursday, December 18, 2014

Starting a Blog

All of the posts published prior to this were written primarily from copy/paste from the C25K forum.  I have decided that I want a more consolidated place to capture my memories, especially as they relate to my running/training and all the other craziness that my midlife crisis has brought me.

Is it a midlife crisis?  Who knows?  I'm not sure I even know what a midlife crisis is.  A definition I found on Wikipedia is, "According to psychologist and writer Oliver Robinson, a life crisis is defined as something that disrupts a person's mental and emotional health, alters the course of their lives and affects them for a year or longer."  The Google dictionary says it is "an emotional crisis of identity and self-confidence that can occur in early middle age."  


I think I like the Wikipedia version more because it goes on to say that it alters the course of a person's life.  That's definitely the case for me.  

Two and a half years ago I got the crazy idea to try to run a 5K.  I started with a very difficult mile and then did intervals on the treadmill until I could run, very slowly, 3.1 miles on the treadmill.  And then I took it outside and found out how much harder that was!  

But I was already hooked.  The runner's high is real, but I've really only experienced it a handful of times.  That isn't where the addiction is formed.  I became addicted to the sense of accomplishment and wonder at what my body was capable of doing.  I could easily look back to all of the years wasted and how I could have been running all these years, but for some reason that just isn't a consideration.  What matters is that I'm running now.  I remember trying to take up running in high school with a neighbor friend, Jessica Rubenstein.  We ran around the block and then went home huffing and puffing and never tried again, at least not together.  I did try again a few other times, but I always gave up.  Even in 2007 I tried to do the couch to 5K program to run a 5K, but I never got through week 5 with the 20 minute continuous run.  I just couldn't do it.  Or at least, my mind had me convinced I couldn't do it.  I don't know what changed to make me decide I could do it in 2012, but a fire was lit when I ran continuously for one mile on March 9 on the treadmill in my basement.  I huffed and puffed and whined and cried for 12 minutes, but I did it.  And I felt fantastic afterwards!

I started posting to C25K because I felt like I had to share all that awesome feeling with others or I would burst.  And so I did.  But now I think I'm going to start doing that here and share them when I feel like it.  So if anybody is reading out there, I hope you find the journey interesting.


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