Meanwhile...

It's been a week and a half since I last ran, and nearly a week since my last cross training session.  Truth be told, having responsibilities makes it tough sometimes.  But this last week really has been a perfect storm.  To start with, it took several days to recover from Body Pump (my first encounter with the Les Mills class in over a year).  Then Canada Day happened.  So yes, I'm going to call this last week a rest week.

So since I don't have any new running experiences to share, I'll tell you about my first experience running in adulthood where I was timed.  It was in the fall of 2001, and I was required to run one mile in 8:30.  

It was terribly early and dark out.  The grass still wet, and the air still pregnant with humidity, I set out in cotton (yes, cotton) sweats.  I had no watch, and no means of knowing how I was doing.

In retrospect, I was probably running a 6:45-7 split at the start (in other words, a blistering pace for someone  inexperienced at running).  But that pace slowed drastically about 1/3 of the way through. Eventually I must have been running a 9 minute pace.  I finished in approximately 8:40.

We all ran on a resistance track; and yet, despite this, only a handful of us failed to achieve 8:30.  As a member of that handful, I simply assumed that running and physical activity were not my forte.  I was wrong... Though it would take a long time to know it.

I undertook a lot of runs over the following year.  Some were longer than others--frankly I found the long ones to be much easier.  I wish I could go back and do those old runs again.

What, if anything, did I learn from the experience I described above?  I learned that running requires discipline, self confidence and good physical conditioning.  Some people look at running 1 or 2 miles as a major undertaking that they're simply not capable of.  And for some people, it's really true.  But for the most part, I feel most people can run a mile if they are adequately prepared.