A Time to Train

The company I work for (Xactware) has this Healthy Employee Program they do every summer to get people out and exercising. They have various athletic tournaments and games on Fridays, and it's lots of fun. This year, they are sponsoring 2 teams to run in the Red Rock Relay in September. It's this big long race in which 12 people run 3 different legs totaling about 15 miles each. My brother, who also works for Xactware, wanted to do it, and somehow convinced me to run it too.

So, for the last month or so, I've known that I'm going to be doing this race, and so for this time period, I've been in "training." The quotes around the word "training" mean that my training has consisted of doing nothing different than before I was "training." I hadn't been to worried about the race. I'm still fairly young, and I'm fairly athletic, and so I figured the race wouldn't be too bad. Well, yesterday I decided to actually go for a run, and see how far I could get, so I could gauge for the race.

I decided I wanted to run up Provo Canyon because, for one, there's no need to stop for stop lights up there, and secondly, there is a bit of an incline, which would help more for the race in September. We live about a mile and half from the canyon, so the plan was to just run from home to the canyon, and then see how far up the canyon I could get. Lisa came with me on my run, except she just cruised along on her bike while I ran. I told her as we got started, that I was going to try to get to Canyon Glen, which is 2 or 3 miles into the canyon. I thought that was a realistic goal that would push me some. Boy was I wrong.

Not too long after beginning the run, I think my legs were a little shocked by this unfamiliar exertion. I get out and play sports fairly often, but I can't remember the last time I just went out and ran. So, I just trudged along and remembered why I like playing sports for exercise so much more than just running. I had gone about a mile, and I was not enjoying myself. I really did not want to run any more. But I could not give up that easily. I told myself I had to make it to next light (which wasn't too far away) before I could stop. So, I made it there (which is about 1.2 miles from home) and had to stop and recover a little. I had no desire to run anymore. So, I didn't even make it to the mouth of the canyon, and I wanted to go home.

After recuperating for a bit, I was able to convince my body to run back home. I had to stop once on the way back home, but I was able to run most of the way back. I did not enjoy it though, and it took a lot of mental strength to keep myself running. The whole time I was just thinking, "How did I get myself into this?" and "I think I need to tell them at work that I'm not doing it anymore."

I finally made it home and had to cool down for a while. Once I was done with the run, it actually felt good to have gotten out and exercised. It's so weird, because at that point I was no longer trying to think of a way to get out of the race. I just began thinking how I need to run more often, and get more in shape for it.

So, this week, I'll need to go running again. Right now I'm thinking that it'll be good. However, I'm pretty sure that soon after I begin, I'll once again be wondering what I'm doing running and how to get out of the race. Maybe some day (preferably before the race in September) I won't be hating life when I run more than 500 feet at a time.