so it begins

I have missed running. The running scene, however, doesn’t seem to have missed me — and that’s okay. I’ve enjoyed seeing all of your posts on your training, races, and other events. You are an inspiration.

As for me, I have ran only a handful of times over the past year, and only 2-3 of these times were with the intention of running. The rest were more of a spontaneous occurrence born out of a desire for momentum in the middle of a hike or, on one occasion, after my hiking buddy underestimated the number of miles in her proposed detour making our total trek nearly 8 miles when I had a time limitation. To sum it up: I am out of shape!

Yet somehow I managed to be inspired and curious enough to sign up for one of those insane obstacle course races (OCR). It’s called the Spartan Race and it is on June 9th, so I have 6 months to get in shape physically and mentally. It might be crazy but I feel compelled to do it anyway.

So today, my training begins. I laced up and hit the trail with the purpose of going for a run. I had a loop picked out and planned to walk a bit to warm up. In retrospect, my warm up was probably a little to short, especially because I haven’t been feeling 100% healthy this week. Soon after I launched into my run I felt a near-death experience coming on. Yes, I am exaggerating but not by a lot. It was humbling but I had to walk.

After catching my breath, I resumed my run. Now, when I say/type “run,” what is happening in actual terms is more of a “jog.” Using the MapMyRun app for the first time in close to 10 years, I was surprised to hear Madam Timer calling out my splits (walk time included). I can’t say that I enjoyed her matter-of-fact spewing forth the truth. As I remember, Ms. Garmina was a bit more gentle with her delivery.

The thing is, my goals these days are far different that my BQ goal of long ago. For this event, I just want to get through the training AND the event without injury and without suffering. Of course there will be secondary gains and whatnot in the process.

Upon making the final turn on this run, I stopped again to extend my spine and then fold forward briefly before resuming. I was tired and could have easily opted to walk the rest of the way. I imagined a golden sun shining positive “can do” energy on me, then I willed a release of all of the pent up “can’t” energy to fall away. As if I could see the rush of darkness leaving me, I immediately felt a surge of emotions. I started sobbing uncontrollably.

I may be wrong but I think I might be in for an interesting journey…