The sun is coming up earlier and setting later. Outside, the trees and tulips are blooming. Winter gear has been exchanged for short sleeves. And in the gym, we’ve replaced rowing with….RUNNING. Y’all know how I feel about running. I’ve been very vocal about my feelings on the subject as evidenced by Week 10, Week 12, Week 14, and Week 17. YOU GET THE IDEA. Here’s a flashback…below is a video of me in Week 12…August 19. 2014. Just over 8 months ago, about 30lbs heavier and full of self doubt as I was about to do a set of 12 hill sprints:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeqUyRvbiMQ
Over the last few weeks, as the weather has been cooperating, a weird thing has been happening. I have ACTUALLY been choosing to run as a warm up. CHOOSING. I CONSCIOUSLY DECIDING TO RUN. Yeah, I have to keep re-reading that last sentence, too. And as I mentioned before, I keep hearing my pal Colette’s brilliant discovery in my head: “Running isn’t so hard when you’re strong.” I’ve told you that I stopped looking at the daily workouts long ago because I’m going to go, anyway. I will do what I can do and that will be that. So, Saturday, when I walked in to the Women-Trans-Femme 9am class you can imagine the ‘excitement’ I experienced when I read we’d be doing a 1 mile run.
…DUN DUN DUN…
ONE MILE RUN!!!!
I HADN’T RUN MUCH OF A DISTANCE SINCE THE 5K LAST FALL, YOU GUYS. I WAS REALLY NERVOUS TO DO THIS. Really nervous, even though I had run 2000m just over a week before, in 400 meter increments, and walked away unscathed. As we know, it’s a mindgame though. So, I was dreading it. We did our regular lifting routine – snatch, clean and jerk, and front squats…followed by the 1 mile run. I couldn’t stop thinking about the 1 mile run. THE SELF DOUBT WAS SUFFOCATING! I told everyone, “I RUN REALLY SLOW” and that, “I WOULD BRING UP THE REAR” because I wanted to set the lowest expectation possible. Why? I don’t know. A lifetime of terrible endurance, probably. A lifetime of self doubt. A lifetime of a bad attitude! As our crew got ready with the clock counting down to start time the anxiety really started to set in. Would I be able to DO THIS? OH GOD. I DON’T THINK I CAN DO THIS. And then we started running. We all split off into our different strides and I naturally went to the back of the pack. I had my pals, Hannah and Jen, with me and we were on our way. I made my dog, Louie, take a lap with us. I realized we were talking to each other. We were laughing! WE WERE RUNNING. We made it the entire loop and realized that we’d have to do it again since it was actually only a half of a mile due to a map error (hahaha, Coach Morgen…we love you). So, we did that second lap, too. I only stopped to walk a couple of times for about 5 seconds over the whole entire run.
The last 100m, I said out loud to my pals THAT WE WERE GOING TO REALLY PUSH IT.
A funny thing happened: I actually sprinted that last 100m.
My ending time was 10:48.
I DID NOT EVEN BRING MY INHALER LET ALONE HAVE TO USE IT.
September 6, 2014, I ran a max effort 1 mile run and I did it in 13:47. I nearly passed out from not being able to breathe. I sucked the crap out of my inhaler that day. I remember.
In the months since that September run, I have somehow managed to shave exactly 3 minutes off of my 1 mile run. And, I’ve done this over the winter of which I did not run ONCE. Oh, we rowed and rowed and rowed and rowed. But running? Nope. This is real stuff here, guys. Real effort, and real results. It’s magic. Show up, do the work, get results. This is Solcana CrossFit magic.
Colette…I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: YOU ARE EXACTLY RIGHT. Running is not hard when you are strong. Thank you for making me a believer.