Look At Me Go!

Thursday (the 22nd). Back in the routine. Good.

At the park, there has not been more than two or three individuals or pairs of people walking. Today there was about ten. It's Earth Day and I guess everyone decided to get out and walk. But some left shortly after I got there or arrived as I was leaving, so it didn't get crowded.

One woman changed directions claiming it was easier to go clockwise than counterclockwise. It's amazing how much of a conversation you can have with a person in the five seconds it takes to pass each other. There is an ever so slight incline in one corner of the park. Like maybe three degrees. It's a challenge. But I go for it.

I liked the short spurts I did on Tuesday and decided I would do that again. I reason if I can get really comfortable and pick up the pace on very short runs, I will condition myself to run longer. I still feel so out of shape, it's pathetic.

I realize I'm jogging very slowly. I try to pick up the speed a little. I can do that. Okay, maybe I'm just not pushing myself enough. During one segment, I actually felt like I was really running. It was a huge confidence booster. I tried to repeat it the next time. Failed. Oh well. I run one-minute, three times over the course of a half-mile lap. You do the math. Does that count for a three minute run? No. Who am I kidding.

I concentrate on what I did differently to make it feel like I was truly running. I think it has to do with form. The angle of my body. How far I pick my feet up. My arms are doing what they're supposed to--bent at the elbow, swinging straight, not crossing over the middle line of my body. I'm breathing through my mouth like I'm supposed to. I'll have that magic moment again.

But let's talk about breathing for a moment. I've read you should do the "talk test." If you can't reasonably carry on a conversation without gasping for breath, you need to slow down. Aside from the aforementioned occassional five second conversations, I'm left to talk to myself. At the risk of looking and sounding like a crazy person, I do it. And every time it involves some pep talk, so I sound like the Little Train That Could, "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this."