While this blog was created to follow my journey through the 30-turned-60-day-Bikram-Challenge, my Bikram life has, as previously mentioned, taken a slight... hiatus. Money, money, money. Enough said. So... NEXT CHALLENGE....
I had a pretty rough few days last week; things just weren't falling into place and I was feeling very stressed and lost. On Saturday, I had a huge meltdown because of my current living situation; I was let down, once again, by a promising apartment ("Oh you will just love this cute little place!" ...except its a crack house with roaches.) As I drove back to my apartment, teary eyed and anxious beyond belief, I got stuck in traffic for 30 minutes due to the St. Jude's marathon that was taking place in Memphis that morning. Everyone looked so... proud. I was immediately brought back to the overwhelming sense of accomplishment I felt the day I completed my 60 day Bikram challenge. I want that feeling again. I enjoy having something to strive for, to work towards, to occupy my time, and to feel that amazing sense of determination. So that's when I decided that I will be one of those proud runners next year. I will run the St. Jude's 1/2 marathon next December.
I don't run. Well, lets rephrase that- I don't know how to run. I try to, but always fail. My hips hurt, my knees hurt, I get bored, and I look like a t-rex with my arms all jacked up. It is really quite comical. Seriously. If you are ever feeling down, just ask me to run some laps for you. You will laugh your face off in no time flat. So this is a much bigger challenge for me than you would think. I think a 1/2 marathon is perfect. Any further and I truly feel you are doing more harm to your body than good. So, 1/2 marathon it is.
After thinking about it and looking at training schedules, it is pretty obvious that a full 12 months is way more time than is necessary to train for such an event. (Even for this t-rex.) So, while I still hope and plan to run the St. Jude's race next December, I have moved my goal date up to April 30th- the Music City Marathon in Nashville. I was in that city for 3 years and would always watch the racers, but never got involved. Go figure.
I am going to spend the next 3 weeks just getting myself prepared... finding some new shoes, finalizing a training schedule, and just getting myself into the mindset. Several of the training schedules I have found say "this schedule assumes you are already able to run 30 minutes without stopping, whatever your pace may be." Yea, I can't do that. So I am just going to work on that for a while- getting out and running, even if turtles are passing me, for 30 minutes. I will start an official training schedule in January- that will give me 4 months of focused, structured training.
Some people may not see this as a big deal. "It's just a long run." Well, I dare you to give it a try, then. Lord knows I am not in the best physical shape. Oh, don't get me wrong, I am very healthy and pretty fit, but I am in no shape to run 13 miles straight. And like I said- I don't know the first thing about running. So to me, this is a huge challenge. But like Bikram says, "It's never too late to start from scratch again." And boy oh boy, I am starting from scratch.
With that, I hope you will stick with me and my endless ramblings... I am very excited about the next 4 months and the challenges and successes I will face. I hope you will share these moments with me.
