I am not a runner. I’ve said this for years and years. I’ve always preferred sports that had short sprint bursts like tennis or volleyball and sports that are easier on my knees such as swimming or working out on a EFX machine. I’ve struggled to understand those who can lace up their shoes put on some tunes and run for miles at a time and get excited to train for their first marathon. When I run, I hate the sounds of my raggedy breathing and the feeling that I am the slowest runner in the world.

When I first considered this “do a triathlon” thing I realized that I needed to give running another chance. Shortly after this realization, I read an article where the author wrote about how she started running and mentioned that running started with a single step and built from there. So I decided to start with just 1/10 of a mile. Funny enough I ran 1/2 mi that first time, on July 5, with very little effort and I was surprised at how easy it felt. I quickly realized all of the swimming I’ve been doing has built up my lungs to a decent capacity for other forms of cardiovascular exercise.

I successfully ran 2.0 miles last week in 19:39. Not a fantastic time yet, but it felt good to reach that 2.0 mile mark. Now I want to repeat it a few times and see if I can bring down my time a bit so today was another run day and I ventured out late this morning prior to the OSU game. It was BRUTAL and I struggled to finish the 2.0 miles. I need to be a bit smarter about when I run and what I eat before. Today it was 91 degrees and I ate peanut butter toast beforehand. BIG mistake and I’ve felt awful all day from it. Lesson learned.

Also today Nick and I had a conversation about paradigm shifts or the way we view situations as human beings. So often we use phrases that start with “I want to be…” instead of realizing that most of the time we could substitute “I AM a…” Our conversation didn’t mention running at all but I’ve realized that I can apply it my running and instead of continually saying “I want to be a runner” or “I’m not really a runner” I need to start the more positive “I AM a runner” and stop at that. There’s no need to add a “but” clause to that sentence and I don’t need to add disparaging comments about myself. Everyone started somewhere and I’m happy with my progress from 0 to 2.0 miles in these 8 weeks. Now I just need the weather to get cooler and to avoid peanut butter toast before I lace up.