I have never been a runner. I think I've run on purpose maybe four times outside of a gym class. As a matter of fact, I remember in 7th grade cheating while running the weekly timed mile to get my personal best time: eight minutes and twenty seconds. That was about 15ish years ago and I still remember because it was such a big deal to cheat on anything in a Catholic school. If we’re being honest though, that’s kind of on the teachers. Who maps out a course you have to go around 6 fucking times to create a mile and expects the 30+ kids running around it to actually do all of them on the honor system?
A lot of things have changed since I was that itty bitty seventh grader. I grew up and went to high school and started college and fell in love and got married. I have moved twelve times for reasons relating home loss, eviction, and the needs of the military. I’ve made a home about halfway across the country in either direction from my family. In that time, my faith and mental health and relationships have ebbed and flowed. But I have maintained a core connection to hating running. As I write that though, I think “hate” is the wrong word. I’ve been scared of it. Like I’ve been scared of a lot of things in life. Risk. Failure. Love. Pain. Spiders.
I’m the kind of person who is constantly setting goals but gets burned out and says to “hell with that!” So, this is my attempt at kicking my butt into a for real, really real, can’t wimp out because people are watching goal. Because right now it feels like the world is ending and I’d like to be able to say “Hell yeah dude! I did that shit! I ROCK!!!”
Here’s the task part of the plan:
Walk/run/crawl 5 days of the week
Take pictures of said walk/run/crawl every time I go out and post them on this blog and on Instagram and Facebook
Go a half mile farther each week
Be nice to myself when I don’t accomplish those goals
But not so nice I don’t stick it out to the end of the year
Here’s the long-term goals of those tasks:
Do a 5k each month, improving each time, for 3 months, improving on my stamina and speed
Do a 10k each month for the next 3 months
Do a half marathon a month for each of the following 3 months
Do a marathon a month for the final 3 months
Survive all that running, and learn about myself along the way
That is as far as I’ve thought this out so far. I won’t let depression keep me in bed or overeat so that I can’t keep myself running. This journey is going to take one full year. Today is day 12, June 5, 2020 at 10 pm. So, here’s to the next 532 days and 2 hours. It’s going to be a blistery journey. Wish me luck!