Running away

“Veronica and I trying this new fad called uh, jogging. I believe it’s jogging or yogging. It might be a soft J. I'm not sure, but apparently you just run, for an extended period of time. It’s supposed to be wild.” – Anchorman

Inspired by Women’s Health magazine and a friend’s blog, I’ve decided to start running. Running is probably no big deal for most people, but it is for me. Why? Because I suck at it.

For the past seven years I’ve told myself that I can’t run because of my feet. But the truth is before I got sick, I was a horrible runner. When I run, my feet feel fine. It’s my lungs that feel like they’re about to give out. From what I’ve read, I need to build up my endurance. So, I’ve prescribed myself the 5K training method: alternate minutes of walking and running, increasing the running minutes every session.

I don’t own a stopwatch, so I started this method on the treadmill. Every other day I head down to the gym in my building after work and hit the treadmill for 30 minutes. I started at the lowest walk-run ratio, with 2 minutes of walking followed by 3 minutes of running. Over the past few weeks I’ve worked my way up to 2 minutes walking, 10 minutes running. This is a major accomplishment for me, especially considering I had to hold at the 2-5 ratio for a few sessions.

So two weeks ago, I decided to take this outside to the lakefront path. All throughout winter, even on the below 0 days, there’s a few running nuts out there pounding up and down Lake Michigan. With the weather getting warmer, the lakefront has become increasingly populated with runners, bikers, roller bladers and dog walkers. So I decided to join them, and it was not pretty. Running outside is A LOT harder than the treadmill. The ground is uneven and there are little hills and an insane wind coming off the lake. The first time I went out, it was in the 50s, so I went out wearing a few layers. However, from the time I jogged the two blocks from my apartment to the lakefront path, I swear the temperature dropped 20 degrees. I froze my butt off. So the next time I went out, it was in the upper 60s, and I wore some layers again. This time, I nearly dropped from heat exhaustion.

Each time I’ve run outside, I haven’t been able to keep up my treadmill numbers. Because of my lack of a stopwatch, I use my little MP3 player to let me know when to walk and run. I’ve loaded it with a running mix of 2-minute songs followed by songs that are between 4 and 8 minutes long. (I wrote out my mix below. I’m pretty sure people with multiple personalities have similar looking playlists.) Although I could easily run in 10-minutes segments with a steady speed on the treadmill, outside I’m lucky if I can get through the 4-minute songs without dragging my feet and slowing down to the point that I’m jogging yet getting passed by walkers. It’s pretty pathetic. But when I when I get home, I feel great. And the next day, I'm sore in all over, in a good way. So I’ll keep heading out to the lakefront, braving the wind and trying not to get hit by bikers, building up my stamina and running for the simple fact that I can.

Running mix:

The Sniper Song – Naked Raygun
Lady Marmalade – Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya and Pink
Bruce Lee vs. The Kiss Army – Guttermouth
Sexual Revolution – Macy Gray
Prozac Moment – Mr. T. Experience
Ray of Light – Madonna
Rock & Roll – The Redwalls
The Perfect – The Killing Tree
Wave of Mutilation – The Pixies
Freedom 90 – George Michael
Cooking Wine – Alkaline Trio
Tangled Up in Blue – Indigo Girls
Breakfast of Champions – Rainer Maria