a lie: speed is the way of the runner.

[jazzfish]

So, I'm running again.

I started running in spring 2006 for reasons that can only be described as Awful. Thing is, even if the reasons are bad, the health benefits are real. People tell me exercise is good for fighting depression. Plus I like being able to fit into certain shirts, and I like being able to sprint back to the game store to pick up my hat when I forget it.

The big obstacle has always been my lungs. In cold weather they freeze up during any sort of exercise. (In humid weather I sweat like a beast and overheat, which is also no fun.) In 2006 I worked my way up to the point where I could run for about 20 minutes at a stretch without stopping to walk, and then it got too cold to go out, so I fell back off the wagon. Later years had a similar but less effective trajectory, usually interrupted by high summer, Lyme disease, or other factors beyond my control.

I never even got started this spring. I blame apathy. Or I would if I could be bothered to care.

Now I'm back to the condition I was in during spring 2006 when I started all this. And like then, I've reached the point where I hate my physique more than I hate getting up in the morning.

So, I'm running again. Living a quick walk from Lost Lagoon helps: it's got a nice dirt path which is nicer on my knees and hamstrings, it's basically flat so there are no hills to struggle with, and it's very pretty. After a week and a half I'm running five minutes at a stretch, which originally took me three months to get to. So that's something.

I have goals, both performance- and apperance-based. I have no idea if they're at all reachable. Since my inherent response to reaching goals is "obviously i didn't set them high enough," that's okay. At least I'm doing something.

(And yes, I'm familiar with The Fantasy of Being Thin.)

Comments

[rainbowk.livejournal.com]

The most popular running groups in town start training at the beginning of January. I've done one of those (a Sun Run training program, 0-10K in 12 weeks) and I can assure you that it basically never gets too cold to run. Running in winter is probably nicer, really.

[jazzfish]

It /is/ a lot nicer to run when it's chilly out, especially for a heat source like me. Trouble is, my lungs insist that Too Cold starts at around 10 degrees C, so I expect Dec-Feb will be Too Cold. But that's still a much longer running season than I'm used to from DC.

(I am somewhat terrified at the thought of running /with/ other people.)

[(Anonymous)]

Have you seen a doctor about the lungs thing? Sounds like exercise-induced asthma to me ( always worse in the cold), in which case there's (cheap! safe!) inhalers for that. Silly, and perhaps dangerous, to ignore the simple solution here.

Rainbowk

[jazzfish]

... ish. I was informally tested in high school and came up just shy of the 'exercise-induced asthma' threshold. And not being big into exercise until recentlyish, I never got around to being retested for reals. But yeah, it would be worth looking into, thanks.