Pumped Up Kicks

So I’m running a women’s four miler this September, and training for it starts this Saturday morning at 7am.  My running/training partner (and friend!) will pick me up at my house at 6:45am, and we’ll embark on week one of training from now until September.

Mind you, I am not a runner.  I can run, yes.  I run at the gym.  I run after RR at any department or grocery store aisle.  I run when I’m caught outside in a thunderstorm to the nearest shelter.  I run when I feel like I hear a falling tree in my vicinity hitting power lines on its way down.  (True stories.)

Anyhow, my wife and I have been at the gym more in the past month and a half than we’ve been in the last year.  Sweating out the grief?  Who knows.  We’re motivated.  We rented a locker at the gym for the summer, so we can leave all of our gross workout gear in there during the week, making it easy to pop over during lunchtime, and taking the excuses of “But I left my iPod/shoes/shorts/socks at home.  Oh well.  Guess I can’t go.”

Signing up to run also meant I justified the purchase of some new running shoes.  These shoes.  And if I had unlimited money, I’d buy a pair in every color.

Yesterday, I broke them in running around the world’s most ancient indoor track (I think Thomas Jefferson ran laps on it).  I mean, c’mon… it’s WOODEN and creaky (evidence here).  Anyhow – I swiftly ran the 12 laps it takes to make a mile, walking only lap 7 to give myself a break.  I was even looking especially butch in my awesome shoes and homemade sleeveless t-shirt.  I have a good mix of music (fast, angry/energetic rock music – Anberlin, Silversun Pickups, Jimmy Eat World, Acceptance, Foo Fighters, and mostly anything with a lot of guitars, a man singing, and some drive and sense of urgency), so I’m timing myself by how far I get into which song in the playlist.  I suppose I could just buy a stopwatch.

After my one mile, I recognize it will be challenging to get myself to all four miles, but I’m up for the challenge.  Or, rather, there’s no backing out now.  Ask me again at 6:30am on Saturday morning, and I may have a difference answer, but you gotta start somewhere, right?

Edited: Picture Proof!