Losing the Mental Game

If someone invented something called Jello-Stix, I am assuming they would be the All-American dessert of Jello in some kind of stick like form. And I would also continue to assume, that this person must certainly be a runner, because they most certainly must have formed this idea after their very first run.

Yesterday we took the dogs for a walk. Since walking George is like dragging a bag of sand as he begins to display the crickety ricketyness of all of his 14 years, our dog walks are in no way a disply of physical endurance of any kind. Mental endurance, yes, as we plead with Greta to keep walking as she whines about when are we going to be home (we're not at the end of our street yet); as we play yet one more game of "I Spy", as we pick up the blankie Clara drops for the 6th time....

SOOOoo...we are watching a neighbor's house for the week, and she has a jogging stroller she is going to let us use while she is gone. We have one already, but now we can put each girl in one. So the premise is, training was to begin. After about a 7 minute brisk walk, Chris announced it was time to run.

I ran. I did. I ran. I stopped. 2 1/2 minutes in (I'm embarrassed to even admit that) I stopped. I was ready to quit, I was so mad at myself, and was ashamed. Ever the amazing husband to which I am going to post about later, he cheered me on. And a little while later, I ran some more. There was lots of starting and stopping. And whining (me this time). But, I have to admit, after nearly an hour of this exercise, and probably about a total of 15 minutes of running, I survived. I had some odd tingling sensations in teh beginning, coughed and sputtered with some mild asthma, but a lot of that seemed to dissipate. Towards the end, during a running part, I even managed a brief sprint as my competitive edge burst through me against Chris. We were going down a hill, so I had to cut it short as I was probably seconds away from pounding the pavement with my face, and sending Clara into the woods with her stroller.

My butt was cramping, my calves were burning, my hips were tired, and I thought for sure I'd be walking funny today. Upon walking the two steps from the garage into my house, my legs were indeed like Jello-sticks. Like walking on a pile of snow that you think is going to hold you up, but instead you plop right into it. And today, I am no worse for the wear. I am not actually sore, I just feel like I exercised.

And I feel proud.