Saturday, May 5, 2007

A Momentous Day


(Thanks, Google Earth! We were able to measure the route of my 20-min. run and then add my warm-up and cool down to it . . . so here's a photo of my path!)

I did it. I ran 20 minutes straight this morning. Twice on my curvy path of my run, I ran into my best friend, who was also doing her C25k run (she's on an earlier week), and she ran with me for a minute each time. That was good because talking to her (and realizing I could talk while running my 11th and 15th minutes) was good support for me to keep going.

TWENTY MINUTES! And I could have run 21, possibly more. I can't say it was fun, exactly, but it gave me a feeling of accomplishment. And it was/is really cool to the feel of my muscles shifting into different gears for uphill and downhill run. It's fun in the same way it's fun to admire how your car engine feels shifting from one gear to the next. (Cleary, I am a total nerd in this way (among many other ways), but that's perfectly okay. I love driving a stick shift.) I love feeling how things tie together.

At the end of my run, when the beep to stop surprised me because I thought I had 1-2 minutes more, I was thinking of what's next. A fire truck went by with its siren screaming, and I thought about joining a volunteer fire department some day. I thought about being in good enough shape for something like that to be a possibility. Then I thought:

I can never again let myself get out of the habit of engaging the physical side of me.

As a person who tends to be very intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally based, those are the elements of myself that I engage most often in my life: in choosing my work, in getting impassioned, etc. But there is a physical element to me that is interconnected with those other elements, and when I remember that and give the physical part of me reign sometimes, I am a happier, healthier, more successful person.

Week 6, Day 1 will mean going back to alternating running and walking before committing to only running from then on. I am so excited now to know that I really can do it!

12 comments:

Andrea said...

*high five* Rock on, woman, rock on.

Martalu said...

Wow! I am totally in awe of you! GREAT JOB!

Jen said...

Awesome progress ;-) That's a great milestone!

Cory said...

Congrats on the run. That's awesome!!!

Linds said...

Wow... congrats on the running! Sorry I've been MIA, but I'm back, and ready to get down to it. I'm very impressed with your running though... 20 minutes is Amazing!

angelfish24 said...

Way to go on the running! I am jogging too but haven't been able to go 20 minutes continuously but I will soon.
I'm with you on incorporating the physical side of things w/ the emotional, intellectual, etc. I am now thinking I need to work more on the spiritual side as I've let that go for some years now.

PearShapedGirl said...

Way to go, Veggie, it's been great to read your progress. I remember a few years ago when I started running on my own without a program like C25K and eventually got up to running 30 minutes continuously, I was so ecstatic I could hardly stand it. Now I can barely run 2 minutes... yeesh. Just goes to show you how right you are about keeping up with the fitness now that you've achieved it! That's obviously a huge regret of mine. Keep up the great work!

Take care,
PSG

Marathon Someday said...

Yeehaww!!!!! I'm so excited for you! You are SUCH a runner.

Foodie Girl said...

WooHoo!!!! Way to go chickie!

Foodie Girl said...

Photos are to the right, bottom links.

Salma Gundi said...

Congratulations :)

~~Midnight Raider~~ said...

CONGRATS! That's a huge accomplishment!