My First Run

I feel like I should bronze these shoes and put them on a plaque. I purchased them for $19.14 yesterday at the Adidas outlet and today they took me on my first run.

Confession time: I secretly want to be a runner. I envy those who run marathons. And it irks me when I see somewhat normal people like Oprah and P. Diddy run them. Because then I feel like I should be able to run too. But the problem is that I'm a big, fat chicken.

I am very, very, very out of shape and very, very, very not athletically inclined. I can't run or throw or kick or catch. I am, however, very good at falling down. So in that sense, running a marathon is kind of out of the question. But that doesn't mean that I can't run some. Right? I'll never know unless I try. Right?

Enter Alex's best gal pal who is getting married this May. She wants to run because it'll help her stay trim for the wedding and she, too, wants to train for a race. Yesterday at the outlet mall, we bought matching gray Adidas shoes. And today, she sends me an e-mail and proclaiming that we will no longer talk about running, we will actually run. She told me to choose either Wednesday or Thursday and we were going to jog for at least 1 mile.

I then proceeded to have a mini breakdown at work. Because I was going to have to run? With a person? Who could see me? For real? I began to flash back to my P.E. days in which I would cry, yes CRY, because I got so stressed out from sucking so bad at sports. One time, the coach made me hit 30 tennis balls before he realized I couldn't actually serve the ball into the opposite side of the court. I'm not exaggerating either. I hit 30 tennis balls incorrectly before he gave up on me.

So I decided to go on a practice run today to see how bad it was going to be. I've never really tried to go running outside before and since I've been going to the gym since February, I thought I could handle it. I found out that Alex's brother's house is a half mile away from his house, so that seemed like a perfect practice run.

And I did great! Way better than I thought I'd do. At the gym, I can usually only run for maybe 3 minutes on the treadmill before I decide I'm done and wonder if an ellipical will hurry up and be free. But I managed to go longer than 3 minutes when I didn't have a clock in front of me and I was actually GOING somewhere. I also went way farther than Alex's brother's house (I know, I know, I'll find a name for him eventually.) And I didn't fall! Or pass out! Or hit any small children! And the new shoes help tremendously. I've never had actual running shoes before and the support was unreal. I'm even more excited now to try out the blue and white ones with shocks that I scored at the Nike outlet.

So there you have it, internet. My very first run as a big girl! I'll keep you posted on how Wednesday's very first tandem run goes.