Today Was The Day

Right after I started running I was talking to one of my bosses about it. (a different one than I usually post about. I like this one. I mean, I like them all. Mostly.) Anyhow, he was being supportive and said that if I kept my interval training up he would bet I could run a mile by the end of the year. So the seed was planted, and I made it my goal to run a mile by the end of the year. I even updated my "Goals" tab to show this. I had planned on it and was working up to it.

Earlier in the month when I was having the worst of my hip pain, Josh suggested I take a week off for rest and then see what happens. I was super upset about that, but sat out anyway, and as soon as my week was over I started again. We started out slowly on the treadmill and then went back outside. The time off did me good, and I've also discovered that the hip problem has something to do with my job, because my hip doesn't really hurt if I've been off work for a few days. Interesting.

So I got back in it, we started going pretty hardcore again, and pretty much rocked it out.

This past Tuesday, Ingrid and I were running on the treadmill. I went for ten minutes without stopping, and it felt pretty good. I was proud of myself. I had Ingrid do the math for me to see how long it would take me to run a mile and I would have only had to run three more minutes. We got off the treadmills and I decided that on Wednesday I was going to just go for my mile. No problem. I could have gone three more minutes. No big deal. Super pumped to get it done before the last day of the year.

Then Wednesday happened. I woke up with somewhat of a small cold. I felt fine enough to go to work, and was just a bit annoyed at how often I had to blow my nose. I decided when I woke up though that I was going to have Wednesday be an off day from the gym. I just felt tired and didn't really want to go. I have a very serious policy that when I'm ill I don't exert myself in order to allow my body to properly heal (I'm going to break my own policy later in this post). As soon as I felt myself not feeling well I cut it off.

So I worked all day, came home and went straight to couch. I didn't feel like doing anything at all, including making dinner. We got gift cards for Christmas so we picked one of the restaurants we were going to have for dinner. Joshua went and got it and I stayed on the couch. We ate dinner and he went over to his mom's house to use her laptop. I took a nap, woke up around 8:30 and decided I was going to go to bed. Then it got ugly. I won't tell you what happened, but it wasn't pretty. And from what Josh said, it didn't smell good either.

A few years ago I had pneumonia when the plague hit our house, and ever since then I've been pretty much terrified of getting sick. Whenever I start to feel symptoms I clench in fear and wait for that moment where I have to go to the emergency room. (Serious, serious trauma here people.) Also, when I'm sick I'm often a bit irrational. Whatever.

Thursday morning I set up my Sick Station.

 

If you're interested in your own Sick Station, here is what you need: 

1. Chair
2. Two ottomans (these are the bottom part of your bed for when you want to lay down)
3. Drink (Gatorade)
4. Playstation remote (and someone to switch it out for you when it dies)
5. Television remote
6. Chapstick (I'm addicted to this stuff from Trader Joes)
7. Face Cream (Its a baby lotion that I get at Target that I'm addicted to)
8. Coffee Mug (and someone to fill it for you)
9. Kleenex (with lotion)
10. Trash Can (made from empty Kleenex box)
11. Laptop (for day 2, when you feel well enough to contact the outside world)
12. Blanket (not pictured, dog was borrowing)

This next one is the Dog Station, and it's pretty much just every day life. He isn't sick, just lazy.

Anyway, back to me. I was off work Thursday, and went ahead and took Friday off, because I felt like it. Friday I absolutely felt better, but not 100%. I did realize on Friday that my time before the end of the year was ticking away quickly, and I got super angry that I wasn't going to meet my goal. Like super angry. I figured I would sleep Friday night and see how I was Saturday morning.

Today is Saturday. I woke up, felt better, but still didn't feel like I had the energy for a mile without stopping. I really didn't feel like I had the energy for grocery shopping. I texted Ingrid and told her I wasn't going to make it and that I was super pissed off. She asked if I wanted to come to the Y and walk with her. Sometime between that conversation and when I ended up at the Y, I decided that I was going for it. I couldn't not do it. Yeah, I still feel a little ick, but I would have been so disappointed in myself if I hadn't at least tried. Yes, I know, I couldn't have predicted I was going to get the flu, and I couldn't have stopped it, but I really, really wanted to do this.

So I did! (Ingrid did too.) (And Ava, but she has four feet, so thats her advantage.)

In 13:13 minutes, I ran a mile without stopping for the first time in my life. Make that 1.07miles.
We're really classy and take photos of phones because we aren't tech savvy at all. Yeah. So what.

I told Ingrid this story, but not all of you, so I'll repeat it. In high school, when we would exercise for cheerleading (don't worry, I'm on the side that it is not a sport. I won't go all "cheerleading is life" on you. Ever.) it was kind of lame. They would have us run a lap around the track, which was 1/4 of a mile. Four times around is a mile. Congrats, we can all do math together. I never, in the four years I was in high school, made it one lap around the track without stopping to walk. Never. Never before in my life have I been able to run more than 1/4 of a mile without stopping. Today was a pretty big deal for me. It feels pretty awesome to know that I can do things now that I couldn't do when I was a teenager.

This is me afterward. I'm pretty pale, but thoroughly pleased with myself.

My next goal? Five miles, no stops, by June 2012.

What is your goal?