I ran! I ran! I ran!
I make elaborate plans ALL the time. I do. I am the queen of new year’s resolutions, and middle-of-the-year resolutions, and “once I have more time” resolutions. And then, kerpluf!
So please understand my self-skepticism when I made this whole elaborate running plan and was a little worried about my ability to keep up with it. All I had to do today was run 1.5 miles, but I am known for shirking even small workouts in favor of laying on my back and staring at the ceiling.
It was a big relief that I actually wanted to lace up my running shoes and get my butt out there.
I have a couple of problems that have kept me from running more consistently in the past few months. The main one is that it’s pretty pitch dark by the time I get home from work, around 5:30. It can be a little frightening to run around in the dark, particularly if you’re a girl. There is a rapist on the loose somewhere in Fairmount Park, and I’d rather not take any chances.
Problem number two is that I hate not knowing my mileage. I’ve been running on the Schuylkill Banks trail for the past few months, and as much as I love the view and the fact that’s it away from the city, the trail has really bad mileage indicators. I guesstimate the distances, but I get annoyed at the inaccuracy of it all, and my Nike + doesn’t help much, since it gets confused on hills. If I run a mile uphill and a mile downhill, the thing will swear up and down that the first mile was 1.2 and the second 0.8. Ghaaaa! The result is, if I aim to run a certain mileage, it’s super hard to tell when I’m done, or how far along the course I am.
I solved both these problems by running around Rittenhouse Square today, a distance of about 0.35 miles per lap. I forgot how much I LOVE running laps – all you have to do is make it around once, and then repeat! For some reason, it’s a lot more manageable for my brain. Rittenhouse is also a busy and well-lit area, so I felt totally safe trotting along. All I had to do was run 4.5 laps, and it was a piece of cake. No, really, I actually enjoyed it. The first lap was mildly painful, but afterwords I felt great. I think this bodes well!
A couple of other problems I might run into as I go along: It’s getting darn tootin’ cold. I wore my college sweatshirt today, and was fine, but I’m going to have to start layering up big time. I have some running gloves, and some sweat-wicking outerwear, but I may need to make an investment in a headband of some sort.
My running shoes are also falling apart, and I suspect I may be getting a replacement pair for Christmas. My last running shoes were a gift for Christmas 2006, so it’s about time!
After my run, I took a nice, long bubble bath, and have been downloading Christmas music ever since. Joy to the world, indeed.
