Embracing Pain

Okay. The title is a little dramatic for the subject, but for too many of us it is truth. Running hurts. It hurts to breathe while running. Shins ache when you first start. Funny jiggling on saddle bags sort of sting (unexpected). And forget the pain of the next two days if you pushed yourself too hard. It's almost enough to call in sick for. So how does a person get started? Overcoming the mental battle.

Every year for the past uncountable, I've dreaded the mandatory fitness test required by my Air National Guard Unit. I made it through mostly by doing an aerobic step test and hoping my heart rate really would slow down enough. And usually it did, so I was fine. But I guess I wasn't the only one who wasn't really staying fit. The Air Force began to do random fitness tests and found that too many of her personnel would fail in the random tests, even though some of them tested 'Excellent' during the programmed annual test. So now the Fitness Test is a lot more demanding. It happens twice a year for Active Duty and asks the older Guard community to get thinner and faster in order to keep a passing score. Couple that with turning 42 and being the heaviest I've EVER been (even 9 months pregnant with 10lb babies) and I'm paying attention. Never mind that if I don't get started early, the consequence could mean losing my job. As a single mother with 3 kids and only an Associates Degree, I know there isn't a better paying job with health care out there. I've got to get active and now.

So, guess what? I am. It may be a little premature, but for the last 4 days I've been getting outside and working my body. The first day I did a walk/run for two miles, the second a walk, the third walk/run, today a walk. I am trying to start a habit while shaping my body. Shaping it to withstand running without wanting to die. Shaping it to fight against the thick middle that's almost erased my hour glass figure (thanks to sitting all day, everyday).

My goal right now is the run a 5K on 28 August. The 5K is called "Run Like a Dog" and it supports the Thurston County Humane Society. Since three of my four animals are rescues (four if you count my orange long hair cat being saved from a cardboard box titled "FREE" and then inoculating and neutering...)--it's a cause I believe in. And the 5K is 2 weeks before my annual fitness test. So, yay! I have a goal, and I'm working it. That in itself is facing the obstacle. And doing it slowly makes the pain of training more bearable. More embraceable.