For those of you who've been keeping track (all of you I ASSUME!), today was The Day Of The 20 Minute Run.
Also known as "The Day of Dread", or "Week 5, Day 3".
The day got off to an okay start. This morning I annoyed Shaun by dancing around the apartment singing "iiiiiiiii don't wanna work, I wanna eat at The Keg all day!" Always a good way to start the day. Then I went to work anyway. At work I made a playlist on my iPod, ate a Vitatop, read some blogs, and did some, like, work and went to meetings and stuff. And at 5 I went to the gym.
I took my time getting changed. I may have even hummed a few bars of "iiiiii don't wanna run, I wanna eat at The Keg all day!" But soon enough I dragged myself up to what my gym intimidatingly refers to as "The Conditioning Room", also known as "that room with all the treadmills and weights."
Are you in suspense yet? Do you like how I'm stretttttcccchhhhing out this story?
Well, this:
-- THIS is the proud face of someone who RAN 20 MINUTES TODAY!
(And has the messy hair to prove it!)
I swear, I didn't think I'd be able to do it. If money had been involved, I honestly wouldn't have bet on myself. The truth is, I sucked big time at the 8 minute intervals earlier this week -- during the second one, my heart rate got up to 197. So bad! And that was only 16 minutes of running, with a 5 minute walking break in between. How could I do 20 minutes straight??
But I swear I think the C25K is like magic! I dunno what it is! But the 20 minutes was actually EASIER than the two sets of 8 minutes. BIZARRO. Today my heart rate never went above 190, except in the very last minute and I think that's just because I was SO EXCITED!
Anyway! I wanted to say a HUUUUUUGE thank you to everyone who commented on my plea for a pep talk the other day. I thought of all you guys when I was running, and how if all these 'strangers' could believe in me, then maybe I should too.
I think I'm starting to. And here's one thing for sure: next time I find myself in a situation like this, I AM going to bet on myself.
