One Mile

One Mile.

One Preschool child, who has decided that he wants to run one mile.
In the school’s fundraiser event.

One Father.
One Father who runs marathons and rides a bike in crazy races.
One Father who would like to run one mile with the child,
But will be out of town the date
of the school’s fund raiser event.

One Mother.
One Mother, who has never run a mile straight in her life.
One mother, who has a Preschooler, who has to have a parent run with him,
In the school’s fundraiser event.

One Mother.
One Mother, who can walk really fast, even at an incline.
One Mother, who has set a goal to be ready to run with her Preschooler
In the school’s fundraiser event.

So now you have the back story. I have incredible news.

I RAN A WHOLE MILE WITHOUT STOPPING TODAY!

That might not sound like much to some people, but for me it is huge. HUGE!
You see, I can walk and walk and walk and walk and walk and walk and walk.
I can walk up hills and I can walk down hills.
I can walk fast and at an incline.
I can walk fast and jog for a bit and run for a little bit and then walk again.
I can even run away very quickly from a skunk at 8.4 months pregnant. (Me being the prego, not the skunk.)
And now- I CAN RUN A WHOLE MILE WITHOUT STOPPING!

Last week or the week before, when I realized that my mr. was not going to be here to take up this parenting challenge, I got a little worried. I realized that I was going to have to be the one to run with little mr.j. So, I decided to up my training game. I have been exercising, but I’ve not pushed myself to run very far.

I decided to change my intervals from times to distances.

I started with .3 of a mile, 2 times (walking fast in between) in my allotted half hour. I ran it. I was winded.

The next day, I ran .35 of a mile, 2 times in my allotted 45 minutes and walked really fast the rest of the time.

The next day, I ran .4 of a mile 2 times in my allotted half hour. (I think I did this for a couple of days.)

The next time I ran, I upped it to .5, but I couldn’t make it the 2 times. The second time I fell short.

Today was my day to do those .5s. Today I was worried. Here are the words of the voice in my head (Well, they probably won’t be the exact words from my head, but they will be coming from my head a second time how I remember them, so they will be close):
“Ok, you are warmed up. Weights were hard, but you did well. Time for running. You can do this. Let’s walk fast a quarter of a mile & then run until .75. That will be the half mile. Then we’ll walk a quarter and do it again.”

I agreed to go along with what I was being asked to do. And when I got to a quarter mile and started my (slow) run, this is what my mind said:
“Alright, maybe you should talk to _______’s mom and see if little mr. j can run with them. She’s a runner. She would be able to do it.”

Me (in my brain) talking back to myself:
“But he would be so disappointed. I have told him I will do this. I can’t give up.”

At which point, I said a tiny “please help me” prayer in my heart. At least I think I did right then- it might have been a left over little prayer from yesterday. I can’t remember exactly when I said it, but I do remember asking for help with this whole thing.

My brain:
“He’s going to be disappointed at some point in his life. This will just be his first big one and you will be the cause of it.”

I stopped listening & talking to myself at that point.

I started thinking about how I need to learn to breathe more efficiently while I run. My body is pretty strong, but that breathing thing is pretty important. I went to a luncheon last week and a woman who lost a lot (a lot lot) of weight was talking about her evolution into the fit and strong woman she is today. She mentioned how she upped her distance and speed incrementally. She talked about how the running was so much more mental than physical for her. She talked about how it was so hard for her until she learned to breathe correctly.

The luncheon conversation shifted & I didn’t get a chance to ask her specifics.

I started to pay attention to my breathing.
I tried to slow it down. I tried to breathe deeper. I paid attention to it.
And it got easier.
I couldn’t believe it.
Then I looked at my mileage. I was one tenth of a mile away from the half mile goal.

And I said to my brain:
“I can do this. My body feels fine. My legs don’t feel heavy (oh how they used to feel heavy). I’m not out of breath. I can do this. I will go two more tenths.”

And then I didn’t tell my brain this next part:
“If I can go two more tenths, I can go two and a half more. I am going to try.”

So I tried and I did and at .8 miles my brain said:
“Hey, what are you doing?”

I said:
“I am running a mile.”
And I did!

(Then I walked for a quarter of a mile & ran another half mile.)
_______________________________________________________________________

Now I have to work on my speed. Little mr. j has a very fast “go” speed & I am worried that I won’t be able to keep up. I’m afraid it will be like trying to keep up with my laundry-or maybe even worse!

Also, I want you to know why this is such a big deal to me.
Do you remember junior high? Do you remember the mile run on the outdoor track?
I remember. I remember everyone lapping me numerous times. I remember being the last one in. I remember walking into the locker room where everyone else was showered and primped for the next hour. (Those were the days of the mandatory shower.) I remember how little junior high me felt.

Today I put that behind. Way behind and I am glad.