Brrr, It's Cold Out There...

Today was a double-first. My first run measured in miles, not minutes. And my first run in the snow! Both accomplishments to be proud of. At least, in theory.

Since the start of finals, running has been pushed to the back burner. And by back burner, I mean toaster oven. Or maybe even microwave. In fact, let's just say I put running back in the fridge for a little while. Basically the whole month of December, minus a couple of OMGIHAVETOSTOPSTUDYING runs. And then I was home, and realized I forgot my ipod in St Louis. Whoops. Luckily, I got a new ipod nano for Christmas! Along with some excellent gift certificates, which allowed me to stock up on winter running gear. So, today was my first day out! I ran (slash walked) two miles. TWO. WHOLE. MILES.

It doesn't sound like a lot. This is true. Technically speaking, it's NOT a whole lot of miles. Just a couple. Two little miles. But for me they felt like Two Miles. Capitalized. For effect.

Two miles is the farthest I have ever ran (slash walked). In my entire life. I'm pretty sure. No joke. Ever. See, I have always (read: alwayssss) been a terrible, unenthusiastic runner. Even when I was a tiny child, a raging ball of pure energy, running was pretty much my least favorite activity in the entire world. I did every sport/activity known to girl: ballet! tap! jazz! t-ball! gymnastics! horseback riding! soccer! tennis! cheerleading! lots and lots of cheerleading! rowing! I hit my running peak right around t-ball time, when I was too little to hit the ball off the tee. So either someone would get in (really, really) close and underhand it to me, or my friend D would hit, and I would run. (He was a good hitter and slow. I was a tiny hitter, and fast.) Even in my soccer days I loathed running. When I discovered sports that did not involve running, I was ecstatic.

The point is, I have probably never run (slash walked) two full miles before. I have never even remotely thought about maybe WANTING to run two miles. So the fact that I couldn't wait to put on my new gear and hit the snowy road and struggle and walk and stretch and get inspired and run and dodge cars and call myself crazy for thinking I was going to run 13.1 miles when two little miles was so freaking hard...is amazing to me.

And tomorrow I'm going to do it again. And it will be, I think, a little easier than today because I will already have done it. And I'll run a little more, and walk a little less. And so on and so forth.

I'm going to be heading down to Long Island (or Lawn Guyland) tomorrow for a birthday party/new years celebration/college reunion for five-ish days. My friend K will be there, so I'm not worried about losing motivation to run. Wooo! Time for a hot shower.