Slice of Life - Running

Every now and again I look at other people.  One thought that will often pop into my head is, if they feel comfortable wearing that, then why can't I?  Why can't I pull on a pair of shorts, go out the door, and hold my head up high?  

In order to do something about it and to stop dishonoring my body, I am using Calorie Counter on my iPad (for the most part) and strive between 1200 and 1600 calories a day.  I am shooting for more protein.

Another task was hiring a personal trainer who has a passion for transformation.  Our first session had my bum hurting for two days to even sit down or move from any position.  

The second session occurred tonight.  I had asked what I should do for a workout on Monday knowing that Tuesday we'd be working together.  He suggested cardio...I wanted to make sure we weren't running Tuesday.  He said we were running...sort of.  Not good! 

Because he is training a friend of mine for a run, I knew that he loved to do hill sprints.  

I was scheduled to meet him at his house at 5:45, but got a text asking me to meet him at this hill that is popular in our little village.  Oh crap!

Who knew that trying to pick your feet up to just propel them forward was so hard?  Who knew that trying to sprint up a hill would make me feel like my legs were lead? bricks? giant blocks of cement? giant tree trunks?  Goodness gracious.  After we ran up the hills, you'd think coming down was just as easy.  Wrong!  I almost thought my jelly legs were going to cave under me as I went down the stairs.  Thankfully, no falls occurred during this workout.

When you thought it couldn't get worse running up, he decided we'd go up backwards.  My calves officially hate me.  My left and my right leg equally hate me because he also had me go up sideways shuffling.  

Then the sprints came.  Four of them.  The first three allowed me to only sprint a part of the hill at a time.  The final was a full out sprint for the whole hill.  Whether you could call it a sprint or not, I busted my bum to get up there.  

After he left for a family dinner, I stayed and lunged up the stairs and then ran the stairs three times.  I will get into those shorts and feel good.  Sleep will be good tonight!  

Roles

This morning I joined a friend with her personal trainer (which I am going to try my own sessions tomorrow). Seven o'clock came early.

She is currently training for a 5K and pushing herself to become stronger in her physical health. I wanted to come along to see what her trainer was like and to join in a workout.

As we ran around our small town, I remembered back to the days when my friends would run with me to keep me going. When they would encourage me to keep me going. When they would remind me of how far we had come to keep me going.

We were finishing up the run with a run up the stairs of a great hill and then they were going to run the rest of the way to her home. I wanted to sprint the stairs! Running up the stairs, I made a split decision...do them again! My friends would always get sent ahead of me to run a sprint and then double back to pick me up. However, I have been known before to send a friend back up a hill we had just run down and then they had to catch me (remember that?) or to run an extra half mile back and then catch me (K and M, you should both be loving that one).

Running up the stairs a second time brought me to the realization that the roles had switched. I was that person that was coming along to catch my friend running.

I may not be exactly where I want to be right now with my endurance of running, but I have grown. I have made progress. I am beginning to pay it forward. And I can't wait for the day that my friend pays it forward for others!