Many of you have seen me post things on Facebook and in my blog about running longer distances. Typical weeks lately have me running 50+ miles in the week and typically I run them from a 7:50 to 8:30 per mile pace. However it has not always been that way and I would even say that it is not typical for most people to put in this many miles in a week.
The past couple of weeks, one theme has been coming to the forefront when I am talking with others that are struggling with health and fitness. Many of those that are struggling with fitness take a look at the workouts I am doing and they get discouraged. So as I thought about this I wanted share with you all a story about me getting started in running and where I came from. I hope to encourage you to just get started and work your way to a comfortable level of fitness for you.
Back a few years ago I struggled with how I could get some excercise in my life. I am not an early bird so the morning wasn't something I could do consistently. I worked during the day so during the day was out. I had two young girls at home and Julie needed my help with them so evenings were out. After the kids went to bed I was taking classes so I would do homework then. In the end the only thing I could see me being able to do consistently was spending my lunchtime on the track.
As it was, Chagrin Falls High School was right up the street from my office and it is open to the public for use. I decided one day that I would go to CFHS three days a week and run/walk a mile each time. So the first Monday morning came and I went up to the track.
For those that do not know, a typical track is 400 meters or 440 yards long. Four laps on a track equals 1 mile, so I set out to go four laps around the track. I started the first day just walking the mile. As a competitor I cannot do anything without challenging myself, so I set out walking and trying to keep a fairly brisk walk pace. The goal in the end was for me to finish the mile without stopping. Long term the goal was to run one full mile without stopping and to do it in less than 10 minutes.
As I took off I thought "This is easy!" and I went at it very briskly. Eventually after only 1/2 a lap I started to feel that this was going to be harder than I thought. My calves were burning fiercly and I was having trouble just taking each step. Remembering my goal to finish without stopping, I kept pushing forward.
I struggled through the rest of lap 1 and lap 2. By lap 3 I was hurting really badly; I was down to a shuffle of my feet and my calves started to feel like they were going to cramp up. I thought to myself, "How did I get to this point? How could I let myself get this far out of shape that merely walking 1 mile was beyond my reach?" I finished lap 3 and I had to stop for a moment. At that point I sat down on a bleacher that was on the track and looked up to heaven and asked God WHY? I was at a crisis of faith and I needed to make a decision!
That decision was whether I wanted to get up and finish this mile and work my way through the pain ,or did I want to accept that I was made to be fat and out of shape. As I looked up to heaven contemplating what direction I should go, I decided that God made me for more than I thought I was made for. When you are fat and out of shape you do not have very high self esteem; you tend to work in the here and now and not look to the future and how our decisions today affect what happens tomorrow. That Ho Ho tastes so good right now ,but in the long term it contributes to our long term health.
So I decided to get up and finish the mile - one last lap! I cried pretty much the whole last lap. Partially because of my emotional state but mostly because of the pain that I was having. In the end I finished the first mile in just under 20 minutes.
After this first time I started to add some running into the mile by adding a half a lap a week until I was running the full mile without stopping. Once the full mile was achieved I wanted to add another mile to my run and the goal was to run 2 miles without stopping in a 10 minute pace. I wanted to do double the amount of distance in the time that I finished the first mile.
Can I encourage each of you to not look at what I or any others are doing for their fitness, but to look at what you can do to improve your own? For me it was humbling to know that I could not walk one mile! But I did not look to others' workouts and think if I cannot do that then I will not do anything.
Too many times we focus on the here and now! We want things to happen overnight and we are a "results now" society! Remember these words I wrote in an earlier blog post, "You did not put it on in a day and it will not come off in a day." The same can be said for cardio fitness; it will not happen overnight but as I have found out if you stick with it and you want to go further you will do so in a short period of time. All you need to do is make up your mind that you want to be in better shape and have better health!
