*Breaking Exercise News*

I did some -- ha!

It had been quite some time since I had been to the gym, so it was definitely time.  And I had a great workout!  Back in the day, when I was a good gym girl (remember that 5 minutes?) I used to get to these points where I would not necessarily crave exercise (never that, unfortunately) but I would like feel like the next time THAT was going to be the time that I was going to be able to run.  (I'm not even going to link to all of my old "I wish I could run" laments.  You know the drill.)  I would have these moments of feeling like I was running in my head.  I can't explain it.  If you've ever been a caterpillar, dreaming of being a butterfly maybe you can understand.

And look at that number above.  It's slow, but check it out.  I got there because I ran for the first MILE.

Me.

The non-runner.  Ran the first mile.  (I'm sure most of you know that I use the word "run" very loosely, but I feel like I need to reiterate from time to time that I know it's relative.  My running is more like a runner's walk, but whatever...)  I started out at a brisk walk but then pumped up to my jog pace and started going.  I figured I would just go until I felt like dying, which back when I was going regular was usually maybe a minute or two.  But thanks to Crossfit, and that fun 1/4 mile run to warm up, I could go a bit longer than that.  It wasn't as hard for me anymore.  It still wasn't easy, don't get me wrong -- but it wasn't that hard.  I got past a five minute mark and still felt okay.  I started the bargaining with myself and decided I would go til I hit 10 minutes and that was impressive.  After all, during Crossfit that's past the point of what I ran the half mile at in the fitness tests and usually I was about dead by then.  I figured I would be dead and would just work it out for the next 20 minutes.

But when I got to the 10 minute mark I was relatively close to a mile.  And I thought, "what the hell?  Why not go for it?"  In fact, I imagined how excited I would be to tell YOU about it.  And this face below is what I imagined I would feel like....

I was not wrong.  I really felt happy.  I was ready to stop at a mile, but I picked back up and jogged off and one for the remaining time.  I got to that point in under 15 minutes.  My average pace, as you saw, was only 4.1 MPH.  Who cares?  I can live with that.  Because I did it. 

And I'm going to do it again.

I