Tomorrow we're heading up to Lake St. Peter (Me, Andy, Cara, Will, Matt, Greg, and Travis) for the long weekend. I hope everyone has a fun C-Day while we're gone. I love getting out of the city. It's the largest party in the country, and the third-largest party in the world (some kind of holiday in Kuala Lumpur and New Year's Eve in Times Square beat it out for first and second place), so it's a little overwhelming at times. My brother is also coming and having a party at my house, and bringing his psychotic girlfriend with him. And one of his ex-girlfriends. So I'm glad I'm missing the fiasco-to-be.
It will be very relaxing and lovely.
Anyway,
So I'm teaching myself how to run.
Don't laugh - I'm serious.
See, I haven't actually RUN since I was about 7 or 8. I loved track and field, and I was a pretty good sprinter. I was chubby, though, and so didn't have the stamina for long distance.
But then I started getting all these knee injuries, and we went to the doctor and found out that I had a moderate case of patello-femoral syndrome, coupled with the fact that I'm hypertensive, which means that my knees actually bend backwards quite a bit. So this opened me up to a lot of knee pain, and the doctor recommended that I stop doing activities that involve high-impact, like running.
So for years I've lived with this. I get knee pain when I walk up a lot of stairs, when it's humid, when I accidentally let my knee lock in a backwards position . . . but it's something I'm used to.
I also have asthma, and in past years it's gotten worse, so running outside in the smog has been pretty much out of the question. I can do lots of low-impact cardio indoors, like hockey and whatnot, but running was never really an option.
Until about now.
You know that I like to go for early morning walks. I love walking. Walking is the time I have that's just for me, where I can think about anything I want, because I don't actually HAVE to think about anything at all. Walking is also the way that I lost 35 pounds and am my current shape. My legs are solid muscle and I'm quite pleased with them.
But walking isn't giving me the health benefits that I was used to. You can only walk so fast, and it's not getting my heartrate up or my breathing going or anything anymore, no matter how fast I do it.
So running, I suppose, is the next option. But I have to start slow, because I have never run as an adult, and my body is an entirely different shape than it used to be when I was 8 (like now I have to strap down some boobs before I go out).
I started running on Monday. I only made it 2.5 times around this track near my house before I had to stop. It wasn't my legs, or even my heart rate - they were fine. It was my lungs that stopped me. They sucked in the heat, the humidity, and the smog, and simply closed up. I was bent double for five minutes before I could cough out enough phlegm to draw a full breath. Yuck. So that was disappointing.
I gave myself a break on Tuesday because my left knee (always the worst of the two) was KILLING me. I bought myself a brace for it, one that actually fits me, and prepared again today. This morning, I took a few puffs of my new puffer prescription, and slid on my new brace. I made it 5 times around the track before I got tired and stopped. I plan to add a lap every day I run. I will learn to do it properly, and I will become fit while I do it.
I'll always love walking. Walking is my meditation. But running is more my quest.
Posted by Ally at June 28, 2006 10:12 AM