Wednesday, March 10, 2010

A One-Way Ticket to Ouchytown

The goal of today was pretty simple: run 1 mile without stopping. Feeling both nostalgic and excited about moving forward, I chose a path downtown that I used to run during my last stint as a Chattanooga resident.

Starting out at the Bluff View Art District, I started jogging down the Riverwalk. Actually, "jogging" may not be the right word. "Agonizingly traversing" is more like it. I felt pretty good for, well, the first minute. After that my legs turned to lead, my lungs were pleading for air, and I was unbearably mad at letting myself get this out of shape. One mile used to be a warm-up for me in the pre-"I-don't-give-a-crap days"!

But I pressed on ... slowly. I'm pretty sure I saw an elderly woman in a walker pass me at one point. And with about a tenth of a mile left, I was ready to throw in the towel. It was then that an obviously well-trained runner blew by me. The back of his shirt said "Believe". I'm not making this s*it up. It really did. And I did. I finished the mile and continued running half-way back.

Tonight I'm sitting here with achy legs, sore feet, mild chafing, and a raw throat from gasping for air — and I gotta say I feel pretty damn good.

Gotta run!

2 comments:

  1. You'll do it Missy! I keep threatening to go all the way downstairs to the dreadmill to run again. Oh wait, I don't run, I walk :)

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  2. yee haw! you inspired me, and i ran an agonizing 15 minutes today on the treadmill, then walked another 20. i've never ran a marathon, but remember when i'd run for 40 minutes no problem. ugh, i'm out of shape.
    i also remember years ago when you visited me in chicago and you forced me to run with you when we were both mildly hung over. you ran like a pro and i could hardly keep up.
    we'll both get back there!

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