Learning to run....

My friend Kristy asked me two years ago if I wanted to train to run a half-marathon with her. All sorts of images and thoughts flashed through my mind...the humiliation of being last during any athletic competition in elementary school, almost failing gym in elementary school, almost failing tennis in college (the ball would hit my head when I tried to serve), falling off the bench repeatedly in step class, and the simple fact that I hate running. Simple answer...n-n-Then, to my shock,I said, "Sure. Let's do it." What had I done? I could drop out later, I reassured myself.

Kristy is a hard-core person. She doesn't mess around and she doesn't tolerate stupidity well. I love her for it. She does everything with a gung-ho energy that I don't possess. My trainer said he could never imagine me doing anything physical in a hurry and he is right. I am content to walk. I have never sprinted in my life. I had never run anywhere voluntarily in my life so this would be an adventure. Plus, Kristy would kick my ass if I gave up. I was in!

By the fourth week of running, I was willing to let Kristy kick my ass if I could just give up. It hurt. Alot. I sucked at it. We were training in a group of five and I was always staring at their four backsides. It was tiresome. Two of the group were tiresome. I was tired. What was I doing?

I didn't tell Kristy I was ready to quit. She would give me the disappointed Kristy look and I would be leaving her with the Tiresome Twins. I shuddered. So not good. I was waiting for someone else to quit so I wouldn't be a loser. No one else was quitting, damn them. Mentally, I would run chanting, "Quit, quit, quit" to the other girls but my mental power to control people was non-exist ant.

Then, it happened. Runners would talk of a mysterious runner's high when they trained. I decided it was like finding a man that could find lost belongings without help...a rare, impossible thing. People said it would hit but they were just oxygen deprived from all the running...Then, it happened. We were running in a drizzle. I was miserable. My feet were cold and numb. The tiresome duo were in front of me laughing and carrying on. I wish I had laser-eyes. I would shoot them with my laser eyes. UGH! It was now raining hard. Then, I heard thunder. Hell bells. I was running in a thunderstorm. This girl running in a deluge was not me. I wouldn't even go to the mailbox in the rain. I hate being wet unless I am in a pool. I was so quitting.

They turned the corner, running harder. I was struggling to keep up but it was not working. Then, I felt my body relax. My body fell in a rhythm. The rain was hitting me but I was running. Actually running. It didn't hurt. I wasn't gasping for breathe. I was....enjoying it? Damn endorphin runner's high. Kristy came back to check on me (I think secretly she thought I had stuck my head in a puddle to escape running with her again) and I grinned at her. "I love running. I never thought it could be this good!"

I was hooked. Ten minutes of great running opposed to hours of pain and I was in. Damn, I'm easy.