For all of my K-12 experience running was my least favorite thing to do in PE. Every year running the mile was one of the body tests the PE teacher wanted you to do and we usually did it more than once since we had to practice before the test. I remember that we wouldn't pass if we took longer than 15 minutes. (The average person can walk a 15 minute mile.) I usually clocked in around 11 minutes. Cutting it a little close.
My problem was that I would get a terrible stitch in my side. The teacher said if we regulated our breathing we wouldn't get cramps like that. I would try to breath in for four steps and out for four steps, which did keep me from getting a cramp. BUT it also made me feel like I was suffocating. Seriously, I didn't feel like I was getting enough air. Now, I knew this was probably not true since I wasn't blacking out, but it was a hard feeling to endure.
By high school I was disciplined enough to run slowly enough that I could keep running for the whole mile and not have to walk. I would have to regulate my breathing so I wouldn't get a cramp and I still felt like I was suffocating, but I could do it for a mile.
After I graduated from high school I didn't think I would ever run a mile again. I took tennis as my PE in college.
But then a funny thing happened. I realized that I needed to exercise. Gym memberships cost money and the workout room at my apartment complex was open pretty much the same hours I was at work. You can walk out your front door and run. No equipment required. So I gave it another shot.
I really started running while I was living in Athens next to the library (where I also worked). There was a school across the street and I used their track when there weren't any sports going on. I listened to audio books while I ran. My goal was to stay out there for 30 minutes. I ran the first mile, then alternated running and walking for the rest of the 30 minutes. After a couple of weeks I could run a mile and a lap, then a mile and a half, then two miles.
Soon, I was getting tired of running so many laps, so I started running in the neighborhoods, creating longer and longer paths as I got better at running. Speed was never a concern of mine, I just wanted to run. So after I could run the whole 30 minutes, I just started running longer.
I was able to do a good bit of running in England, but pregnancy and motherhood have caused me to seriously cut back. However, this past weekend I was glad to see that it shouldn't be too hard for me to pick it back up. Without training, I ran a 5k. I ran the whole time. I didn't run fast, but I never had to walk. Considering that running used to make me feel like I was dying and I haven't run over three miles since before Virginia was born, I think that's pretty good.
I've started to think of running as the purest form of exercise. As I mentioned in an
earlier post, ancient man practiced endurance hunting. We are built not to outrun the fastest animals, but outlast them. We can run and run and run. I don't know if I'll ever win any races, but I'd like to keep adding miles onto my personal top distance. I'd like to be able to step out my front door, start running, and really go somewhere. It is beautiful and it is what my body was built to do.
Me in my cold-weather running gear in England.
