a running story, continued

October 20, 2009

how i got into running: part 2
sorry for last night’s cop-out post! now you see why i don’t post at night, right? today i’m another step closer to fully human and will post about the rest of my running story. since you asked!

so we left off in 1998, when i graduated high school knowing only cheerleading as my main form of exercise. not exactly a lifelong activity, but that wasn’t why i participated! i matriculated at williams college knowing that cheerleading was no longer going to be an option for me — the div III powerhouse didn’t even have a team! instead, i was a non-athlete surrounded by members of various teams: crew, squash, soccer, track, lacrosse, ice hockey . . . you name it.

i thought about becoming a coxswain for the crew team for about 0.05 seconds, then realized that being cold and wet was REALLY not my scene, nor was getting up at dark o’clock for practice (ha, and yet look at me now . . .). so i did a capella and theater instead. it didn’t take long before i felt . . . incomplete. breaking a sweat was something i had been used to, and i hadn’t realized how therapeutic it was until it was gone!

plus, everyone else was doing it. really. EVERYONE.

so i started to find other ways to be active. i took an aerobics class (i still remember the songs that they used to play in that class! a-ha’s “take on me”, anyone?), signed up for yoga, and found out where the gym was. i had friends join me for boywatching while on the stairmaster. there was even a little treadmill area that overlooked the squash courts — great mid-run entertainment! i remember my runs were never longer than 3.6 miles, and i never went over 10:00 min/mi speed. i didn’t really see the point! it was exercise, but not a sport to me at that time.


i mean, why look at scenery like this when you could be gazing at the men’s squash team?

to be continued . . .

(not because there is some great surprise coming up, like “AND THEN I BECAME AN OLYMPIC-LEVEL SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMER”, but because i have to get the gym never mind, already went. now i have to get to work!)

fresh legs, stale lungs?
sloppy-joe-eating capabilities aside, i’m still in recovery mode — i have a voice that is way past sexy-hoarse all the way to barely comprehensible. but systemically, i was feeling okay yesterday, so i headed out for an easy run. it was an odd one: my legs felt springy, but my breathing wasn’t perfect. i felt limited by my lungs rather than my legs (i guess usually it’s the opposite?). the result was a relatively brisk run — not superfast, but i was really trying to run at a relaxed slow pace — that felt way hard.

stats: 5.04 in 44:00, or 8:45/mi

comment replies
i replied to comments on the last post. i really want to be better about doing this! i hate when i ask a good question on another person’s blog (or say something that i think is particularly brilliant) and am left hanging!

7 Comments

  • Reply Anonymous March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    I&#39m interested in hearing the rest of this. It&#39s always fun to learn how a person got where she is now.

    Re: comments. You should switch to wordpress (since you&#39d been talking about renaming your blog anyway), you can reply to comments via email which is very convenient.

  • Reply Anonymous March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    i love how youre making us wait for the whole story haha. can&#39t wait to hear how you ended up being a person to get up at "dark &#39oclock"and i hate it when my lungs and legs arent in sync, definitely makes for a different run.

    and i dont know if someone else asked on the "i need topic ideas" post but i&#39d love to hear how you fell in love with medicine ie) was it something youve always wanted to do, a particular class in college ect.

  • Reply Susan March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    I&#39d be majorly impressed if you had been hiding the fact that you were an Olympic synchronized swimmer! Alas…I guess we&#39ll have to wait and see what other surprises you have up your sleeve!

    I&#39ve been thinking about switching to something other than blogger since like inmytummy said, with wordpress you can just reply to comments by email! That would be fantastic.

  • Reply Chelsea March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    I didn&#39t realize that was a sloppy joe- I thought it was a stuffed pepper. I&#39m curious to hear the rest of your story and +1 to Marathon Maiden about how you decided to go into medicine.

  • Reply hjlongmo March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    I love this part of the story – I&#39m a junior in college and so many of my friends work out for the eye candy right now (can&#39t lie, it does make cross training more interesting… 😉 )

    Also, what was served along side your sloppy joes? It looks like swiss chard, but I have no clue what&#39s on top/if it even IS chard…

  • Reply atilla March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    glad u r feeling better

  • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    inmytummy: i know i should! but i don&#39t think blogHer lets you use wordpress, and i&#39m not sure this blog is foodie enough for foodbuzz. what do you think?

    marathonmaiden: i will definitely answer that! thank you for the idea!!

    susan: ha, maybe if you make your move i&#39ll be inspired to make mine.

    chelsea: ahh, i do see how it looks like of pepper like. but it was definitely a (filling + delicious) sloppy joe!

    hjlongmo: woah, you&#39re good. it is swiss chard! there are breadcrumbs on top. the recipe is on the sidebar! it&#39s martha, of course . . .

    atilla: thank you!

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