The difference a week makes

Last week, I decided I needed to start running. Also last week? The first – and only – time so far this year it’s been 85+ degrees all week long. Good planning on my part, right?

It makes sense on paper – a nine-week program that will make up for 70-something weeks of none of what the program includes. But putting it into practice was a hell of a lot harder.

Was.

Now, I’m not gonna get all cocky and act like I can run now, because I still can’t. But I can tell a difference in a week.

Don’t believe me? Day one: After barely making it through the 30 minutes without several curse words and then pleas with God to MAKE IT STOP ALREADY, I just about crawled back to my apartment where I proceeded to feel like my heartbeat was coming through the back of my skull.

The program’s set up in three-day-a-week runs that gradually increase. By the third day of the first week, I was all like “Run for a minute straight?” NO PROBLEM.

Maybe you don’t think that’s a big deal. But maybe you also don’t run like a 97-year-old.

Today was week two, day one. And like it says in the title of this post (kind of) – what a difference a week makes.

They upped my running time this week, which meant adding 30 more seconds that felt like nothing. Until the last couple spurts. Because it was then I got a cramp and thought my ankle might break. (They’re serious about you needing to do ALL those stretches, kids.)

But the first two? Pretty darn good. Almost, dare I say it, pleasant?

WHO THE HELL AM I??

And though the weather was a lot better to run in than the hell on Earth it was last week, today I had to contend with holding my workout pants up as I ran.

Not that I can tell any difference yet, physically, but those pants weren’t sliding anywhere last week and I just got them out of the dryer last night so, naturally, they shouldn’t be moving all that much.

So yeah, here I am running with one hand holding up a side of my pants. After a while I just kind of gave up and pulled them up as high as I could (within reason) and figured if they slid any, they wouldn’t get too far to do any damage by the time my 1.5 minutes of running was up.

And I may or may not have had a bit of the CT at one point because of that plan, however, I was afraid to look. If you know what that stands for, then, well, that’s why we’re friends. Because you “get” me. If you don’t? I’ll tell you when you’re older.

Jennifer has suggested better running shoes, which I believe will be my weekend project this one or next.

I also need a better contraption to hold my phone – right now it’s in my pocket contributing to the Pants Avalanche 2K11 – and earbuds that don’t fall out of my ears.

This shiz is gettin’ expensive.