February 17, 2009

My calves hurt. My thighs hurt. My arms hurt. My butt hurts. Every single muscle in my body is crying out today, and each one is saying (in unison): "ouch!"

And this is because I went running for the first time yesterday. Actual running- outside, on a track. And I have to be honest. It sucked, and I am bad at it. I've been joking for so long about how much I dislike running and how horrible I have always been that I forgot how true that is. I'm awful! And I hate it!

Any confidence I had before I stepped onto the track yesterday morning vanished way before I had even finished my first lap. Remember the runner I saw on Cemetery Road the other day? Yeah, that guy was an Olympic gold medalist compared to me.

When I run I can't seem to make my breathing make sense- it becomes very chaotic and would probably disturb anyone who happened to pass me by. To remedy this I have to try really hard to breathe correctly, which fortunately is not something I have to do in the course of my normal life, so it's a little hard to figure out how to get that down. I mean, I'd like to think I'm fairly proficient at breathing in general. It's just breathing while running that I have a problem with.

So now I've realized that I have one month til my first 5k and a loooong way to go. Yup, I just said my first 5k. Maybe I'm going crazy(or crazier, depending on how you look at it) but after running my first 2 laps around the track, I realized that I was not going to be as prepared as I'd like to be for the March 5k. And being under-prepared for that would make me more nervous for the triathlon in July. So....I'll be finding another 5k to run before July. Maybe more than one. After all, I really really really don't want to finish last at the triathlon. And if running is this hard at 9am when all I've done that day is wake up and make oatmeal, well, I can't imagine running after I've been swimming and biking all morning. Apparently oatmeal is about what I can handle right now, and I've gotta be better than that.

The good news is that I'm strangely invigorated by this hatred of running. It makes the idea of accomplishing it that much sweeter. And I was sure that all my hard work (at the gym every day except one since my last weigh-in) was going to reflect in the number I saw on the scale tonight. Instead, I lost nothing. I think that my body might be angry about how hard I've made it work over the past couple of weeks and is therefore playing tricks on me again. On the bright side, at least I didn't gain anything- I think I would have ran out of the building screaming if that had happened. Or, given my current condition, hobbled out of the building with a dejected look on my face, since running and screaming are out of the question right now.

When I got home, there was a small box waiting outside my door. As soon as I saw it I knew what it was--my triathlon top. Yikes! The shorts are on backorder, so I've got to wait a few more weeks to get the full effect, but the good news about the top is that it didn't do any further damage to my ego, since it's super cute (well, as far as triathlon gear goes) and it fits. It has some mysterious slits, which at first glance I assumed were pockets but found that weird, since they don't zip or close in any way. What would you put in there? I'm wondering if it's acceptable to store a lip balm so I have one with me throughout the race. After all, I never go anywhere without a lip balm; I have one in my bag, the pockets of all my coats, the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom, on my keyboard at home, next to my bed, on my desk at work, on my coffee table and in my car, and I don't see why a triathlon should be an exception.

Out of curiousity, I decided to investigate and went to the website where I ordered the top from to see if the site's description of the top mentions any such lip balm pockets. Turns out these are "patent pending 'Energy Cell' side pockets". This makes me nervous. What does it mean? Is it just marketing-speak for "useless pockets"? While I know I'll need all the energy I can get, I don't think much energy would fit in these teeny pockets, and I'd rather have my lip balm.