Gazelles and Truckers: The Musings of an Accidental Runner
It's weird.
Sometime in the last three weeks I think I became a runner. I say think, because I'm not sure if I've just stumbled onto some type of lucky running streak, or if I've actually made to to the point where I can run several miles, regularly, without stopping. You know, a runner...who likes to run.
I've been training for the upcoming (Sunday!) Columbus Half Marathon for about five months now. It's actually the third half I've done (Chicago--'03, Columbus--'07), so I've been pretending to be a runner for quite sometime. Pretending, because until recently "running" meant running for a while, then walking for a bit before running again, etc...
And then I had a really ugly run in week 8, when I learned a valuable lesson in hydration: wine, champagne, and little to no water the night before a long run will result in cramping, dizziness and nausea when you're 5 miles into an 8. I upped my H2O consumption considerably after that point.
And here I am. It's race week, and I'm actually, for the first time ever, really excited to do this. I'm not, nor will I ever be a gazelle, but I'm fine with that. I've actually improved my per mile time over the last three weeks, received lots of complements about my apparent svelteness, and feel good about beating my personal best from the Chicago race.
Sometime in the last three weeks I think I became a runner. I say think, because I'm not sure if I've just stumbled onto some type of lucky running streak, or if I've actually made to to the point where I can run several miles, regularly, without stopping. You know, a runner...who likes to run.
I've been training for the upcoming (Sunday!) Columbus Half Marathon for about five months now. It's actually the third half I've done (Chicago--'03, Columbus--'07), so I've been pretending to be a runner for quite sometime. Pretending, because until recently "running" meant running for a while, then walking for a bit before running again, etc...
Back in 2009, I resolved to run a 5K a month, and made it through to May (again with the run/walk paradigm), but it fell by the wayside when I got tired of spending the money, and then summer came, and weekends were busy, and well, you know what they say about excuses. Fast forward to this April: after a shitty breakup, a girlfriend caught me at a weak moment (damn those mojitos!) and convinced me that it would be SO FUN! to run the half in October. Crap.
In May, I joined a gym, dug out my running shoes and mapped out a 1.5 mile route around German Village. It had been almost a year since I last ran, it did not go so well. Thankfully, peer pressure and a bossy trainer are powerful motivators, and I kept at it, alternating short run/walks with rowing, the elliptical, and weights.
By the end of July my two friends and I started our official training program. I re-discovered the fact that I HATE running in the afternoon/after work, but if I can get out of bed, the early morning runs are actually kind of fun. I mapped out various distances through German Village and downtown Columbus, venturing further out each week and exploring the city in the early morning hours when people and businesses were only starting to come to life. I started seeing the same women walking around Schiller Park, the same guys walking to work, and could figure out if I had an early or late start based on what coffee shops were open as I ran by. I also learned that eating buffalo chicken wings the nights before I did my morning runs was a bad, bad thing.
Our long run for week 6 was a Quarter Marathon out in Dublin, and I ran four miles before I started taking walk breaks...which for me, was pretty good. An aside: As far as runners go, in my mind there are essentially two camps: the gazelles and the truckers. I am a trucker. I "truck"along, short of leg, red of face, not a size 2, and with a tendency to breathe loudly... (Yes, I know what you're thinking and you're right--it's incredibly sexy.) Gazelles are those other folks, people blessed with a preternatural ability to look like they're floating and not so much running, for whom their exertions look effortless to us in the trucker camp. Anyway, for a trucker like myself, 4 miles straight was pretty damn good. Things were starting to look up.
In May, I joined a gym, dug out my running shoes and mapped out a 1.5 mile route around German Village. It had been almost a year since I last ran, it did not go so well. Thankfully, peer pressure and a bossy trainer are powerful motivators, and I kept at it, alternating short run/walks with rowing, the elliptical, and weights.
By the end of July my two friends and I started our official training program. I re-discovered the fact that I HATE running in the afternoon/after work, but if I can get out of bed, the early morning runs are actually kind of fun. I mapped out various distances through German Village and downtown Columbus, venturing further out each week and exploring the city in the early morning hours when people and businesses were only starting to come to life. I started seeing the same women walking around Schiller Park, the same guys walking to work, and could figure out if I had an early or late start based on what coffee shops were open as I ran by. I also learned that eating buffalo chicken wings the nights before I did my morning runs was a bad, bad thing.
Our long run for week 6 was a Quarter Marathon out in Dublin, and I ran four miles before I started taking walk breaks...which for me, was pretty good. An aside: As far as runners go, in my mind there are essentially two camps: the gazelles and the truckers. I am a trucker. I "truck"along, short of leg, red of face, not a size 2, and with a tendency to breathe loudly... (Yes, I know what you're thinking and you're right--it's incredibly sexy.) Gazelles are those other folks, people blessed with a preternatural ability to look like they're floating and not so much running, for whom their exertions look effortless to us in the trucker camp. Anyway, for a trucker like myself, 4 miles straight was pretty damn good. Things were starting to look up.
And then I had a really ugly run in week 8, when I learned a valuable lesson in hydration: wine, champagne, and little to no water the night before a long run will result in cramping, dizziness and nausea when you're 5 miles into an 8. I upped my H2O consumption considerably after that point.
Suddenly, finally, that following week, something clicked. My weekday runs were awesome--easy, non-stop, and--dare I say it?--fun.
The following Sunday, I did eight again, and somewhere in mile three or four I realized that I felt good: my breathing was under control, the shin splint in my left leg was relatively quiet, and I knew that I could run all eight without stopping. So I did. And I did it again last week. (Yeah, the schedule said 10, but whatever...if I can run 8, I can run 13.1.)
And here I am. It's race week, and I'm actually, for the first time ever, really excited to do this. I'm not, nor will I ever be a gazelle, but I'm fine with that. I've actually improved my per mile time over the last three weeks, received lots of complements about my apparent svelteness, and feel good about beating my personal best from the Chicago race.
Holy shit, I am a runner.
Comments
Speaking of NYC, are you running this year?