Finding oneself amongst teenage sprinters is not an ego-boosting thing for a first time outside 5mph runner

Weight loss is sort of a bust this week. When I wasn't finishing off Jack's Easter basket, I was using a gift certificate at a Nice Restaurant with my husband last night and not paying much attention to what or how much I ate. IT WAS LOVELY. And hello two glasses of restaurant wine! It's been a while.

So, most likely no good news on the weight loss front at tomorrow's weigh in, but I had an AWESOME week fitness-wise and the proud-of-myselfness is bordering on Old and Annoying for my real life people. GOOD THING I HAVE A WEIGHT LOSS BLOG!

Earlier this week I mentioned something about having a running question or two. The biggest question from that bunch was "how do I get past the three mile mark?" Because MAN, the two times I hit 3 miles, I was DONE. It takes me a long time, for one thing (37 minutes the first time, 35 the next) and I'm just ready to be done exercising at that point. Naptime is precious! Also, there's only so long I can go before sneaking a peek at my progress on the treadmill (I cover up all the blinking lights with a receiving blanket) and WITHOUT FAIL as soon as I check those numbers my motivation decreases a million percent.

But I have discovered the solution and the solution is: go running, outside, without a watch, in an unfamiliar area, get lost, be too prideful to stop running, and, once you realize it's very late and you are very alone, be too SCARED to stop running. EASY!

I visit my mom and dad every Friday and when the weather is nice, they take the kids and I to different parks in their town. One of these parks has a trail through a little forest and, according to my dad who goes for speed-of-light walks, seriously, I have to run to keep up with him, had some great little loops and different ways to lengthen or shorten your run. So, on the fourth or fifth week I'd been bringing my running shoes, I finally decided THIS WAS THE WEEK and went for my very first outside run.

My dad went with and gave me a quick navigation lesson. There was no way I could get lost. Stay left. Don't take the path out to the high school, stay LEFT. The inner loop is shorter, so if it starts to rain too hard, stay LEFT and we'll meet at the car.

I took off, wearing my Target workout pants, a beat up long sleeved t-shirt, blindingly white running shoes and my mom's red chenille hat. My ears get really really cold and achy, and I knew if that happened I'd never keep going. In short: I looked like a total dork.

And then it started to pour.

So I stayed left. And left. And left. And gee, this loop seemed much longer than my dad said, and I thought for SURE that was the parking lot right there, so I took a RIGHT and... hmm, this is NOT the parking lot.

A bit later I found myself at the high school, where track practice was in session, and I was the nearly thirty-year-old mother of two running cluelessly in between the sprinters and the chubbier second string, in my dorky red hat, attempting to figure out where the trail picked up on the school campus. Except, oh, it DOESN'T.

For future reference though: a dorky red hat will 1) keep sweat out of your eyes 2) keep your ears warm 3) keep your little earphones from falling out of your sweaty ears. All good things.

After running through several parking lots and down a busy street, I ended up heading back where I came from, and all the way back to my original Deviation From The Plan, taking the right instead of the left. AND? I ran the whole time. There were 5 seconds of not running when I asked an idiot high school boy where the trail picked up ("Uhhh I think this way?") and another 5 seconds of not running when I couldn't decide which wrong way to go, but dudes, I was RUNNING. And I made myself keep running till I got back to the trail, and then I made myself keep running further because GEE I DIDN'T FEEL LIKE DYING YET.

But then I started getting nervous, I knew my dad was probably worried, the only person I'd seen on the trail was a Sketchy Looking Man, and I was tired. I kept running, because I kept thinking the parking lot was only just around that next bend! But it wasn't, about a hundred times it wasn't, and eventually I gave up. I started walking and even took another right, thinking THIS had to be the parking lot. A bit later I ran into a couple who'd been doing something Suspicious in the trees (oh, my imagination!) and the girl told me to go back the way I came, the end of the trail was very close.

I started running again, found the parking lot, found my dad who was worried and yelled, "IT'S BEEN FIFTY MINUTES!"

And I was all, "Fifty minutes?!"

The longest I've ever run is 37 minutes (see slowest 3 miles on record above) and I estimated that out of those fifty minutes I walked, AT MOST, five. That was 45 minutes of running, people. I DID THAT. I have no idea how far I went, but I'm guessing between 3 and 4 miles. I know I was running at my normal pace (I could tell when certain songs came on) so I'm positive I hit at least three.

Anyway. I felt pretty stupid, but a total BADASS kind of stupid.

I have a friend who says it's easier to run outside than on the treadmill, and even though she's the only person I know who says that, I was hoping I'd think the same thing. It's hard to tell, since I've only done it once, but I think what makes it easier for me is not knowing how fast or how long I've been running. I don't know why checking my stats always discourages me. I'm never going as fast or as long or as far as I hope to be, and it just makes me want to quit faster. I think I might do well on a [clearly marked] trail that was X miles long and I could just, you know, GO.

One thing I did notice, though, with the running outside, is how slow I am. I mean, I knew I was slow, but I'm SLOOOOW. Oh well. Doctor Mama says that's okay.

ALSO. This week I started the shred level two. Which, plank position? YOU SUCK.

This new week will see a definite decrease in candy and not many opportunities for eating risotto off Phillip's plate since I'm not satisfied with the orzo on mine. I'm falling down on the eating, but I exercised every day this week (yesterday's exercise was garden boxing, shut up, my legs hurt) and I'm optimistic those two things will be in sync EVENTUALLY. Three months till thirty!

Comments

[Lindsay]

Maggie, WOW! That is awesome. No advice other than keep it up. Cutting two mins off a 3 mile run is wicked cool. I never cease to be amzed by what the body can do when we stress it with exercise, over time.

[Jess]

That sounds SCARY but I'm glad it had a positive outcome! Go you!

[Kanuck]

I much prefer running outside, because you're going *somewhere* and when you get there you have to get back. On a treadmill, I get bored after about 2 minutes. Watching TV certainly helps, but it can still get boring. Oh, and having an energetic puppy helps as well.