it begins...
I woke up today absolutely determined to go for a run. There was no question that I would go. I packed my bag and was mentally prepared to go out at exactly 12:00 noon. I was 100% resolved. Then, it rained. I'm not talking like a light misty rain either, this was the kind of torrential downpour where you look out the window and can't even see through the raindrops, it's just a sheet of water. You pity the poor fool who gets stuck outside and swept away in the inevitable massive flood that ensues. It was unbelievably disappointing.
But I was determined to go.
There was no way I was running outside, so I snuck in the NYSC across the street and did a short interval treadmill workout. YAY!!! I was so psyched that I went, and now I'm all charged to keep going. As soon as I finished, I was on such a high and remembered exactly why I love running in the first place.
So today unofficially marks the beginning of my "training". I put that in quotation marks because to be perfectly honest with you I'm not following a set training plan. There are a few reasons for this. First, I don't think I can stick to a pre-set program that someone else lays out for me, and if I tried and missed a day or two, I'd be so upset and disappointed in myself, so I'd rather not set the expectations that high. Secondly, I'm determined to make this work in my own way, on my own time, There are very few things I get to do anymore where I call the shots and I am in control, so I want to design my own training program. Besides, I want this to be fun, and I need to be able to comfortably fit in all the miles without sacrificing too much. The plan is to fit in the running around my lifestyle, not to re-arrange my life around my running. Ideally, I want to find some sort of blend, where running just becomes part of my life. Experienced runners may read this and sadly shake their heads, thinking that I'm doomed for disaster, but I'm determined and hard-headed enough to make it work. Finally, I don't really know what I'm doing. Sure, I know a lot more about running than most people out there... after all, I did high school cross country, I've done countless 5K's and 10K's since then, and I've been a casual runner on & off for the past 10 years. I get a lot of good tips and ideas from reading Runner's World, Running Times, and Marathon & Beyond. I also have a network of family, friends, and coworkers who've recently completed marathons and have loads of first-hand advice. After all, they've been there before. I'm armed with all this knowledge, but when it all comes down to it, this is a completely new experience, unlike anything I've ever done before, and I have no idea how it's going to turn out. I like that uncertainty - it's kind of exciting.
So I'm just going to run with it and see how it goes.
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