I did it, I did a 5K plus yesterday and last Wednesday! Little chubby me did it and it felt fantastic. Runner's High is delicious! It's like you haven't eaten in a month and the most tempting Lemon Pie with whip cream and a nice iced latte is laid before you. I was on cloud nine for hours. That is of course until I had calorie depletion. Calorie what, you're asking? Well, let me explain.
Let's say you run 3.5 miles with minimal water and then you go home and eat a medium sized breakfast afterwards. You're body is burning calories, hell it just burned off what you ate. So you're calorie free. A smart runner would take it easy and continue to snack for the next few hours (or possibly have another large meal). What did I do? I went to work with a bottle of water. I worked for four hours. I felt the "high" become a very definite low. I was shaky. My vision blurry. My head pounded. My speech, at times, unintelligible. Why? Not enough calories. My body kept on burning and I felt the full affects of my stupidity. Note to self: Do not go to work after a long run and eat, for the love of all that is wholly, eat. Live and let learn I guess.
Today I only ran 1.5 miles. My legs hurt (did I mention I ran a 5K plus yesterday, ;-)) so try as I might I could not push them too two miles. I'm okay with that. I ran 11 miles last week. That's a record for me. One I hope to keep pushing at and breaking and redefining. I'm falling in love with running. It's hard and I do have periods of self-doubt and self-hatred but I also see how far I have come and how far I'm going.
So I decided, I want to do something big. I want to train for a couple years and then I want to do the London Marathon. Did I just stutter, no, I said London as in England and scones and the Queen and Sherlock Holmes. And here's why:
I have been wanting to move to Europe for some time and Heidi (awesome sister that she is) is in full support of this idea. I'm a writer. Not a profitable one as of yet but that's where my passion lies. As such, I want to see the world and let it influence me and my writing. I want to go someplace foreign and write. Immersion in the purest sense of the word. London would be new and exciting. London is a city of English speakers. London has an excellent Tube system for transport (very similar to Chicago's 'L'). London has loads of history. London has lots of natural wonders that would attract me. London is probably the best option for me. I read a book called Londoners last year that gave me some interesting perspectives on the city, as well, and I am almost finished with the book Run Like A Girl by a Londoner who did the London Marathon, Alexandra Heminsley (which I recommend, its a fun read).
I'm excited to say the least. So I have done my first two 3.5 mile runs. They made me tired in the best and the worst kind of way but I feel like I'm onto something. Each time my dirty New Balance shoes hit the ground I'm going somewhere, somewhere better. It gives me hope. Who doesn't need that going into a new year? No one. So my parting words of wisdom people.
Run. Run run run. Run.
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