Officially Out of Excuses

I love the idea of running and it would be awesome to be one of those people who can just wake up on any given day and run 3 or 4 miles without it being any big deal, but the truth is, when it comes to actually physically running, I am not so much of a fan. I just don't get how this is fun. It's so boring and by the way, what is this "runner's high" people keep talking about? Is there any chance they are confusing it with cardiac arrest?

A few months ago I was talked into entering a race in the fall. To be fair, it didn't take all that much convincing. You can ask my parents, despite my best efforts for practically my entire life, I am not athletic! The problem is I just love the whole competition aspect of athletics. I love trying to out due myself (or at least the guy next to me). I love trying to see how far I can really push my body. Plus, it's nearly impossible for me to do anything half way. If it's worth doing, then it's worth doing with excellence. That being said, since I agreed to run this thing, I might as well really give it my all, invest some time, and go for it.

For the last few months I've been pretty faithful about using my pretentious gym membership. I love the classes and I can feel my strength and endurance growing every week. However, I learned a long time ago there is simply no substitutions for just getting outside and running. You can do as many Zumba classes as you want, but it doesn't make you ready for a 5K, with obstacles, in the mud, in Colorado. Did I mention there is no oxygen here?

I knew I had to start running, but how can you expect me to run without first doing some research on running plans? If I don't have a plan I could be doing it all wrong. Obviously it's going to take about a week's worth of research to find the right one. Then I needed at least another week to find the right iPhone apps so that I could track my runs and get an audible coach training me. Oh, and how am I supposed to run without one of those sweet arm bands to hold my iPhone? You can't expect me to hold it, and you can't expect me to just go buy an armband without researching them to death. You wouldn't want me to over pay for it or get one that will fall apart after the second time I used it, would you? Plus, I have small arms so I need to get one that will fit right.

Well, Saturday it arrived, the new iPhone armband, and with it I came to the end of the road with my excuses. Not to worry though, I still had a few excuses up my sleeve to get me through the weekend, but here we are at Monday and that stupid armband was just sitting there on the kitchen table making me feel all guilty and worthless. So today was the day. Today, I started.

I would love to tell you it was awesome, that it felt great, and that I found my new favorite hobby. No, actually, I felt like I was going to die about half of the time. Plus, one of my apps didn't record my run properly so I have no idea how far I made it. But no pain, no gain, right?

I just have one question. At what point does this start to become fun?