Liana's blog

I realized that there was really no reason to run another week at the same speed, since 30 seconds of running is what I had been doing in Ann Arbor for a couple weeks before we headed out, and I was really just putting off going up to a minute because I was scared ^^;; I ran for a minute and walked for four minutes nine times today, and now I think I’ll be spending the rest of the day in bed watching Japanese drama.

Eight times around, 30 seconds running, 4 minutes 30 seconds walking. In other words, the same as last time. But with a cool watch, this time!

That would be the end of Week 1, if I was doing it normally, but I’m doing each week twice. Uh, that means I don’t have to run a full minute yet, but I will be a little scared come this time next week…

Eight times around, 30 seconds running, 4 minutes 30 seconds walking.

Re-started the program in “The Beginning Runner’s Handbook”: 30 seconds running, 4 minutes and 30 seconds walking, repeated seven times.

Things I like about the new Y: There are changing areas in the locker room, which appeals to my prissy side, and most of the classes are included in the membership price. Also, there’s a chart which shows which times of day are most popular and when the Y is most deserted. That’s just the kind of information a hermit like me needs! I’m taking a picture of it, next time.

Things I don’t like about it: The clock is analog, and it’s hard to read from across the track, so I need some sort of watch or something. Also, no windows! Back in Ann Arbor, it was pleasing to me to run and look at the fall colors, or the flowers outside the yoga center, or the appearance and subsequent scrubbing of the graffiti on one particular wall. I wish this Y had a mural or something, at least.

My last running log was in November, but I came to a point where I didn’t need to take notes for motivation, and I kept running long past that, both with Adrienne and by myself. (Although not so much for the past few months…) Our move to Washington really interrupted my running schedule, but that’s all right: it’s as good a time as any to start over and try raising my speed. I say that I’ve been “running,” but “jogging” would probably be the better term, although even that much wasn’t easy for me at the time at all.

In the past, I’ve hurt myself by trying to push myself too hard, so I’m going to try to follow the suggested schedule at a more relaxed pace by doing each week twice. With that, my thirteen-week program becomes a twenty-six week program, and January seems so far away. I just have to remember when I started that a minute, even at a snail’s pace, was exhausting: I wrote in my book, rather pathetically, that I hoped to be able to keep it up for fifteen minutes someday — maybe even thirty! Today, thirty minutes at that slow pace is nothing. If I just keep trying, next year I’ll be able to run in a respectable way, even though I won’t precisely be fast.

The hard part will be to keep trying without Adrienne… She used to call me a demon because I was so insistent on getting us changed, packed in the car and all the way up the stairs to the track. (And then I would prevent her from napping on the mats while I ran! How cruel I am.) But really, having her there was just as motivating to me. For example, I might have been able to get myself on the track, but if I was alone, there’s a pretty good chance I would have quit after two or three repetitions instead of holding out for the full seven or eight the first week required. My pride just won’t let me admit my weaknesses, physical ones as much as all the rest, apparently.