Running

I call running in Fort Smith, Arkansas the HHH run – Hot, Humid, and Hilly! The neighborhood near-by that I have chosen as my running route is very hilly. I had never run hills before. I avoid running in the heat at all costs. Before now, I had only run when it’s humid once before, by accident. Now, unless I don’t want to run for a month, these are my "conditions". (The picture is of me and my sister Jennifer getting ready for a 4-mile run in San Diego, California).

I have to admit, there is something to conditioning. It hasn’t been below 75 degrees since I’ve been here, so there is no point in trying to get a really early start – still, I do go out as soon as the sun is up, because every degree counts a little! And the humidity consistently hovers somewhere between 70%-90%. So, my first run was just around the RV park, flat, but still hot and humid. I could barely eke out 3 miles. After the first mile, I wanted to quit, but I willed myself to keep going, even if I felt like I was just barely moving. My time was terrible, averaging only 14:74 minute miles.

But I had to branch out, as the RV park is only about ¼ mile around, and it gets really boring running around in circles, and I can only imagine what the neighbors thought. So, two days later, I tackled the “neighborhood” run. Dan and I had scoped it out earlier, and hills or not, I was ready to branch out. On my second run my time improved to 12:30 for 3.25 miles. This isn’t my regular average time; I can usually run around 11 minute miles when I am just out for a nice run, without pushing too hard. My third run was 3.5 miles, same speed, and today’s run was 4.5 miles, still at around 12:20 minute average per mile. I feel really good about this, considering the three H’s, especially the hills. I keep telling myself, by the time I get somewhere flat, cool, and dry, I will be running better than ever! And, in the meantime, my shins, calves, and buns are getting really strong! And I have NEVER sweat so much at anything in my entire life. Very cleansing, I hope.

Something I added to my running experience (it only took me 1.5 years to do this) was to run to music. I loaded up Dan’s MP3 player with “Running Tunes”, and WOW! How much more fun is this?!?!