So I didn’t write yesterday. About the goal I completed before 9:30, which was to go out for a run. Why didn’t I? Because I was trying to establish a pattern of writing in the evening, probably right after dinner. But when you go out for dinner, and then stay out, because Hofbrauhaus has pretzels that you can dip in bier cheese, and you’re seeing friends who appreciate excellent beer even though you can’t partake because you’re the DD, well – posting moves to the back of your mind.
I did run, though. In the morning. And I could have written about it at 10, but I didn’t, because it seemed “too early.” I will be happy when I have a more regular (albeit much busier) schedule.
My relationship with running may or may not be interesting whatsoever, but my fascination/obsession with health is something that will be prominently featured here. Like many young women my age, I have issues with body image, and have for most of my post-pubescent life. My weight has yo-yoed, my perception about my own body has yo-yoed, and so on and so forth (this story is probably identical to tens of thousands others out there, so I’m going to leave it at that and most of you will be able to fit in the rest). But I’ve always liked exercise, which may be the unusual thing. I’m just very unaware of how one goes about doing it (the who what when where…I got the why: because it was fun and good for you), thanks primarily to an incredibly sedentary family. I wanted to do sports growing up, but we moved often and my parents didn’t understand why I was interested because they weren’t interested (the fact that they pushed my brother to is something I wonder about often). So, when I came to college, I knew the basic rules of a lot of sports and had a basic ability to play thanks to gym class, but that was pretty much as far as it went. I was nervous about intramurals because I’d never participated and because it seemed like a lot of athletes used them to keep in shape during the offseason. The swim team had such an irregular practice schedule, so I could never rely on the pool to be open.
So I did what’s been natural to me since I could walk. I danced and ran.
I have very little formal dance training – the usual gymnastics classes until I was 9 or so, and those cute little dance classes where the parents care more about the costumes at the recital than whether or not their kid can do the moves. But I’ve been the kind of girl who dances in the elevator to Musak, who choreographed my own dances to my favorite pop songs. So I took introductory dance classes in college for fun. I got credit for them and it wasn’t a curse to be a beginner – everyone else was, too. But since college, there aren’t many opportunities for dancing unless you’re willing to be grinded up on by some guy you don’t know while the bass is too loud, and you’re willing to cough up a hefty cover.
So I run. I like it – it’s freeing and has practical purpose – to move with your legs fast when you need to. Everyone runs differently, people of all sizes and ability levels run, and unless I run in an actual race (which I intend to sometime in the future), I’m not actually competing. At all. I love that. It also doesn’t cost anything more than a pair of shoes.
The particular program I’m following right now is called “Couch to 5k” and it’s intended to work someone up to the running ability needed to complete a 5k in a reasonable amount of time. It’s perfect for me, someone who hasn’t run regularly or with a particular goal in mind before, and who needs some practice to work up and get better. It’s interval training, and I’ve downloaded podcasts that time the intervals for me so I don’t have to count at the same time as I run. I meant to do a lot of it over the summer, but in the heat (and frankly, my laziness), I didn’t commit as much as I should have. So I set the goal to run. And I did. And it felt good.
On September first I’ll be posting my first monthly goal, which I will write about every Saturday noting any progress and what still needs done. It’s going to be about establishing an exercise routine – because I love it, and because I need it.
Until then, my goal for the weekend (because on Saturdays in the future, I’ll be writing about the monthly goal): write down the basic concepts for the story that’s been kicking around in my head for the past week or so. I usually write short stories, but this one might become novel-length and so I need to do a bit more advance planning than usual.
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