Dear Reader Allison asked me a great question:
I have a question for you- though it’s actually about running. I saw in your earlier posts that you started recently. The thing is you make it sound like so much fun, but when does it become enjoyable??? I’ve been doing couch to 5k from coolrunning.com. I’m on week 4 and my brain is still screaming “stopstopstopstop” the whole time. How do you get from there to running in the pool because you’re hurt but want to run anyway? Sorry if this is a weird question to ask a knitting blog. š
First, this aināt no knitting blog. Had you noticed? (Anne killed me a couple of days ago: āKnitting content: I have been knitting. Ok, now on to other things.ā) Iām so knitting, I swear. Iām almost done with another pair of socks. Iām almost done with that Brick Joy, the cabled Debbie Bliss hoodie. Iāve just lost all motivation to photograph yet another sweater in progress. Hereās what it looked like, hereās what it looks like now, two inches longer. I actually enjoy seeing this progress on other sites ā I just bore myself silly with photographing such activity.
Where was I? Oh, back to the excellent question. Allison, Iām not sure WHERE the craziness that inspired the running came from. Thereās never been anyone more anti-running than me. Completely unable to hide my disdain, if someone said to me, āI went running this morning,ā I would howl in disgust. āWhy do you DO that? How awful! Are you all right?ā
Then I woke up one day and wanted to run. Quite literally, my body said, RUN. Not from anything, there was nothing I was avoiding, it just wanted me to move. I called Marama and told her I needed her help in buying running shoes, and she said, āWanna run the AIDS Marathon?ā I said, āOkay.ā WTF?
My body screams āstopstopstopstop,ā too. Loudly, in an annoying whine. But one day when I was going around the lake, I realized that it was full of crap. Shin splints aside, I donāt have to stopstopstop. Even though I felt like I was gonna DIE, I just kept running and eventually I forgot about that voice for a minute. I just tuned that part out and starting thinking about my writing, or what I wanted for dinner. Iām not saying that Iām not terrified to do the marathon. Actually, Iām terrified to do the seven mile run this week, since I skipped the six mile one last week so my legs could heal. Aargh. Itās kinda like when I quit smoking. I would throw myself on to the couch and absolutely Know For Sure that I was going to die if I didnāt have a cigarette. Then I would forget about it and have an okay evening. All mental, baby.
Thanks for the question, Allison.
And might I add, I was right. Iāve gained five pounds. Donāt anyone tell me thatās muscle weight or nothinā, because I know it aināt, itās all the ice cream Iāve suddenly felt much more free to eat. Well, Iām running a marathon! Pass the cake.
Sheesh.
Ice cream is virtuous. Full of calcium. Chances are though, dear, that at least a part of that five pounds on newly gained muscle mass. Really. I promise.
I continue to be in awe and admiration of you, Rachael. Sending you a big hug.
you are amazing. inspiring. you’ll NEED that extra five pounds when you start the longer runs, or you’ll waste away to nothing….and we can’t have THAT!
xoxoxox
Sometimes weight is just a number. How do your clothes fit, and more importantly, how do you feel? Top your ice cream with fresh berries or sliced peaches and it’ll feel like health food!
Go with the feeling free and foget about those scales. The only number to have in mind might be 26 but even that is only made up of 1 upon 1 so just become an expert in bottled water and ice cream cones and you’ll go far.
Hey any weight gain is nothing to do with muscle or ice cream its cos your smile is so wide its taking on more light which contrary to belief does not weigh little but is enourmous anchor that holds you close to a love of life. Keep smiling gal.
I wonder how you deal with the shin splints. Have you heard about stretches you can do beforehand? That’s what my BIL says…
I think your progress is terrrific!
hmmmm… i think if my body ever started suddenly saying “run, run!” I’ll just have to remind it of the painful knee syndrome, and respectfully suggest that we all just have a nice cold beer and forget about all of that sweating. š
Another fantastic post by Rachael! My body tells me STOPSTOPSTopstopokifyoumustkeeprunningYIPPEEEWEARERUNNING! EVERY SINGLE TIME I go running. I have decided that I must be a long distance runner because I hate running 3 miles but I love running 8 miles. How wrong is that? Keep up the good work and you can do 7 miles! You can!
I’ve been running for 17 years, and each and every time I go out for a run, it’s hard! Keep it up, and those extra pounds are MUSCLE!
Hey Allison, Hey Rachel, We all have the stopstopstop going in our heads but we have to tell that voice to STOP! You will surprise yourself with how amazing you are and what you can do. Take it from a non-runner. I have never been a runner, I have never quite enjoyed it, but one day I decided to do a marathon. It was more a matter of – if not now then when. And also the motivation of having bragging rights for life – being able to say that I ran a marathon. You can do it, just do your regular training, gradually building up the miles. One day you too will say to your friends – Oh, it’s only a short run today, 12 miles. So, I’ve done 2 marathons (I think I am done now.) It’s one of those things, after it’s over, you forget the pain, and only the good feelings stay with you. And you wake up seeing yourself in a different light. The great side effects of running are – you can eat! Near the marathon, I had to be constantly eating or I would feel hungry. And I lost a couple of pant sizes! Good luck to you. Do it for yourself – you are only competing against yourself. And all this running is 50% physical and 50% mental, it really is. Make us proud, more importantly, make yourself proud.
Strange. I just finished a lovely little bowl of vanilla ice cream (Ben & Jerry’s for the curious). Eat! Gotta keep your strength up.
Well, sheeet, I’ve gained about 5 since I started working out too. Sucks doesn’t it? And while its true that muscle weighs more than flab, it actually takes more than a few weeks for that kind of weight change to happen. So that can’t be my excuse…. I think my body just clings to the weight in case more sustenance isn’t forthcoming… yeah, like that would happen!
I came for the knitting, and stayed for the Rachael. Seriously, I really enjoy your outlook on things.
Anyway, I was in cross country and long-distance track all through junior high and I don’t think I every really enjoyed running. I was a terrible, slow runner. Even though our home cc meet was up in the mountains, I would have preferred walking ā¦
Except for the joy of finishing and the blissful calm of collapsing at the end. And being able to say that I ran several miles daily. It impressed people.
I love what Emily wrote–new slogan! “Come for the knitting, stay for the Rachael.” Awwwww. What I loved best about this post was that I could hear you reading it. Now I’m gonna go read the more recent one.
A friend of mine who has run a marathon or two told me that her doctor said not to change the way she usually eats when running the marathon… so keep the ice cream coming!
I practiced Tae Kwon Do almost every day throughout high school. Each day as the time to head to class neared, the feeling that I just really didn’t want to go grew. I wanted to sit on the couch and watch TV, not go sweat and strain and fight. But somehow my body disagreed and would head out the door (usually a little late, ha! take that body), get on my bike and pedal down the hill to the studio. Even through the first few minutes of class I would still have that nagging in my head “You’re missing Friends. There’s a good Simpson’s rerun on. You know you’ll have to spar with that guy who sweats profusely!” It disappated right around the end of stretches and every night after class, I felt a bit euphoric. Battered, bruised, but euphoric. The body knows.
Oh, and since I stopped being athletic at all, I have grown in inches and lost 15 pounds (all muscle I assume).
I practiced Tae Kwon Do almost every day throughout high school. Each day as the time to head to class neared, the feeling that I just really didn’t want to go grew. I wanted to sit on the couch and watch TV, not go sweat and strain and fight. But somehow my body disagreed and would head out the door (usually a little late, ha! take that body), get on my bike and pedal down the hill to the studio. Even through the first few minutes of class I would still have that nagging in my head “You’re missing Friends. There’s a good Simpson’s rerun on. You know you’ll have to spar with that guy who sweats profusely!” It disappated right around the end of stretches and every night after class, I felt a bit euphoric. Battered, bruised, but euphoric. The body knows.
Oh, and since I stopped being athletic at all, I have grown in inches and lost 15 pounds (all muscle I assume).
I hate double posting. Stupid slow machines.