Love/Hate

I hate to run.  Have I told you that?  I’ve hated running since I was in the first grade and we had to run around the soccer field in PE.  The stitch in my side, and the sore throat on cool days were enough to make me dread gym class.  It made matters worse that in first grade I was attending a private “prep” school, where the training for running intensive sports like field hockey and lacrosse started on day one.

In junior high, I discovered the sport of Volleyball.  There were occasional quick sprints to get a ball, and there was one time that one teammate had detention so we all had to run around the gym, but aside from that, there was little to no running involved.  I liked playing volleyball.

In college I met, fell in love with, and married D, who loves to run.   He’d rather run after a long day at work than just about anything else.  It’s how he unwinds, clears his head, and makes peace with things.  I don’t “get” that.  In 2001, I spent about a year “running” to try to get in shape, and to not be left out when D went out on his training runs.  I ran the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, and the DisneyWorld 1/2 marathon in Orlando.  The only way I managed to do that was with a forced set of schedules and training plans.  I can’t say I enjoyed a single minute of any of that training,

After having two kids, I’ve come to terms with the fact that the only way I can get my body into any sort of shape is by running.  I’ve somewhat made peace with it, and I do it out of necessity, not out of any kind of affinity for it.  These days, it’s me and the treadmill (remember, I don’t do cold) in the basement, my iPod, and closed captioning on ESPN at 6:30 each morning.  On days that I don’t run, my shoes sit and mock me when I go downstairs to play with the boys.

Today, I ran longer than I’ve gone since last summer when I injured my hip.  I learned yesterday that there will be a 5K in our neighborhood in March.  I’ve made a plan to start training so that I can run the whole thing and not make a fool out of myself.  I just hope it’s not too cold that day….