So I Ran A Race....

Yep, you read that correctly.

Let me backtrack.  So my company signed up for the Chase Corporate Challenge, which is a 3.5 mile race.  Of course, we were all encouraged, but not obligated, to participate.  I could have easily said no.  But so many others were doing it, including friends of mine who work for other companies.  Ah, peer pressure.

Anyhow.  On one hand, I like to think I'm in pretty decent shape and live an active lifestyle, but something about being good at running has always eluded me.  Now, granted, for this race, all that was required was participating, but a small part of me secretly wanted to do well.  I'm not sure why.  I was convinced, in my mind, with a little discipline & consistentcy, I could do decently.

So, in short - I made a point of running at least twice a week - somewhere between 2-5 miles.  I didn't really concentrate on speed at all; I just tried my best to run the entire time.  The first couple runs were rough; after that, I quickly got in a habit and was able to get on a pace and stay on it comfortably.

Come race day, I achieved my goal.  I finished the 3.5 miles in 34:48, with a pace of 9:57/mile.  I finished in the middle of the pack of my coworkers (and, most likely, somewhere around the middle amongst all the participants).  Most importantly, I ran the entire time and felt good (not close to death) at the end of it.

What I took away from this (in lieu of some cheesy comment along the lines of 'you can do anything you put your mind to') - it felt good to be working towards a goal.  Now, don't get me wrong, I have plenty of things in my life that are a challenge for me (my job, dance class, maintaining this blog, etc.) however, sometimes it feels really good to be working towards one specific goal (and then accomplishing it).  I think, in adulthood, after we're out of school, it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and not be working towards 'something' specifically.

I think I will write some goals for myself.  How about you, readers?  Do you have specific goals you are working toward?

Getting Political.

Eric:  learn more about sarah palin every day

she ran a 3:59 marathon in 2005

 me:  do you like her better now?

 Eric:  no

but i think it's a good incentive for people i know that run slower than that to pick up the pace

It's About That Time....

...for the end of year 'how did I do on my New Year's Resolutions' evaluation.

I did not make many resolutions, nor did I make intense ones. One of my resolutions was to try three new recipes a month. Another was to increase my upper body strength by doing pushups and hand weights several times a week. Another was to start running to increase my physical endurance.

Now, I have not had a chance to really sit down and evaluate my progress on these goals, but just giving it a brief once-over, I think, realistically speaking, an accurate grade for my progress on these resolutions would be....an F.

:'(

Oops.

Why are New Year's resolutions so hard? Mine were realistic. Simple. Measurable. Doable. Why did I fail?

Did anyone succeed at his or her New Year's resolutions this year? Does anyone out there still make them? Am I the only one? Did anyone accomplish anything big? Anyone planning on setting some big resolutions?

Running

This is my newest hobby - running. Let's face it - it's a good way to burn off the ADD energy. That, and it's a whole lot cheaper than joining a gym, and it gets me out of the apartment.

It's a lot harder than I thought. Which sounds dumb, I realize. But I am in relatively active shape, and I take a dance class once a week, so I thought I was in better cardio condition than I am apparently. The first couple times I tried this running thing, however, I could not go more than five minutes without stopping, and let's face it, I was going slow in the first place. I am, slowly but surely (pardon the pun), getting better. I need to figure out the actual distance I run - that might be worth something. That might give me something to work for. Hmm.

This being said - it seems like running is the hobby of a LOT of people, Chicagoans especially. There are over 45,000 registered for the Chicago Marathon!?!?! That is CRAZY. That many people want to run 26 miles NONSTOP!? I could understand lifetime runners who have always held it as a hobby, but this seems like a bit much. Why is it that so many people want to do this to their bodies?! It can't possibly be just to get in shape, because there are much easier and less painful ways to do this. Maybe it's that running a marathon makes one really, truly feel like he or she has accomplished something. I do understand people don't often get to feel this way. Hey, my greatest accomplishment to date is this blog. Have any of my readers ran the marathon?