Wednesday, March 12, 2008

One Day I'll Learn

One day I will learn that my body is not meant to run.

When I was in high school there were several girls that I would watch in amazement as they ran. Playing soccer, an older girl looked simply like a gazelle -- she had incredibly long legs and just floated down the soccer field in a blink of an eye.

I watched my friend Laurie run 20 miles an hour on a treadmill. She looked like she was jogging. She asked to try 21, but our acceleration trainers wouldn't let her. As for me, I almost wiped out at 16 --- my feet went right out from under me because I couldn't keep up.

I tried once to do an overlapping run during a soccer game as Sara, the girl playing the position in front of me, went down the field with the ball. It sounded like a good idea. I remember calling to her, "I'm coming, Sara!" as I kept running, and running, and she just kept getting farther away.

I like to say that I lost all semblance of speed when I was finally diagnosed with the tendinitis my sophomore year, but I really don't think I was ever what someone would consider fast. Short legs, "womanly" body, hips that indicate I'm built to breed, not run.

So why do I keep trying to run? I tried last summer. And I've been working on it again now that the weather is getting nicer (we're not holding our breath that it will STAY nicer, I feel that another blizzard is probably just around the corner).

My newest affliction is very exciting because I have not experienced anything like it before. Yeah, I'm used to the knee pain, the ankles rolling, the burning arches.

But my hips --- yes, those aforementioned breeding hips -- have never hurt me.

Until now.

I've run twice the past two weeks. Each time I can't run on the subsequent day because my left hip flexor hurts so bad that I hobble around like a hunched over old woman. It's very attractive, I assure you.

The first time I thought perhaps I'm just out of shape. Perhaps I'm compensating on my left side for a lingering pain in my right ankle (I fell in a hole walking to the mailbox --- I'm a moron). Perhaps I shouldn't run with the dog, because I hold her leash with my left arm.

But, really, isn't it silly I can't run for 20 minutes without being laid up for a week?

Long live SWIM TO SUMMER, an IU program that will be starting up here. I will sign up to do some number of water-related exercise, and if I complete my goal, I will get a T-SHIRT! I will do almost anything for a t-shirt, so I know this is the program for me! I will keep everyone posted with the trials and tribulations of my Quest for the T-shirt. The program is supposed to start March 23, so we will see. (And, don't worry, DWE will count for some of my exercise time!)

I hope that this works -- especially since I will be posting a little about it on this blog (not ONLY about it, of course. I am not a fitness maven. I have to write about other things!). And, when it is finished, I will show off my T-SHIRT!

I bet you can't wait.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stacie - I am totally cheering you on in the Quest for the T-shirt.
I linked to your blog today in our blog. Check it out:
http://web.mac.com/staleytd/timandtracy/Baby_Blog/Entries/2008/3/13_Tales_from_daytime_shopping.html

dtjunkie said...

20 minutes of running after not having ran in quite some time is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much too soon.

I'd highly recommend this type of a training plan:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=27

They have a more aggressive 16 week plan, but with your injury history I'd definitely take the conservative approach.

dtjunkie said...

Eh... it messed up the link so

Click Me!

Stacie said...

Now Kyle, I didn't run it all! I walked up the hills!

Thanks, though, I appreciate it.

I did good the first time jogging about a half mile (with a couple of places where I walked) in about 10 minutes :)