I had practice at the track tonight in preparation on my half marathon next month. Whenever I go to the track at Sac State it reminds me of the dreadful, 1 mile runs we did every Friday in Junior high and the twice a week 1 or 2 mile runs in high school. (I was playing soccer during the 2 mile run season and actually was able to run the 2 miles, but that only lasted a few months).
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| Me, in the green tank top.. crossing the finish line of my first 1/2 in 2009 |
I HATED PE in junior high and high school and could NEVER run UNDER a 10 minute mile. I was always so embarrassed that the cut off time for running a mile had to be less than 10 minutes or you got in trouble and got a bad grade. I think that the constant embarrassment I felt, only turned me away from ever wanting to engage in any type of sports that involved a lot of running because the perception was that well, I SUCKED!
I don’t think it’s fair that PE teachers get to treat their students that run like shit, like crap and well the fast runners as the prized students. I think this is why overweight kids have so many mental issues growing up in school; they even get ridiculed by the teachers. (Oh wait, I might be referring to myself here).
If I were a PE teacher I think that no matter what the pace was, if the kid actually finished the mile at all, then they should get credit for it.
As an adult I still struggle with running. I am a turtle, slow as hell and frankly I tend to get down on myself for this (probably because it brings back so bad memories of hating PE growing up). When people whizz pass me, I start to feel frustrated and I lose self-confidence and it only further affects my form running. I feel like I am constantly checking to make sure my shirt has not magically ridden up on my tummy or backside and I am confessing to you today that I NEED TO GET OVER FEELING THIS WAY!
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| My friend posted this today and I made one for my desk at work when I leave at lunch to go run |
My mantra is something that I really am starting to believe in:
“It’s not about who crosses the finish line first, it’s about the person who actually crosses over the finish line.”
My goal is to eventually run under a 10 minute mile (yes, maybe just for one mile but my goal would be to actually run at least a 5k under a 10 minute mile… do you think I can one day do that?
Nobody knows what they can do until they try. – Sorus
2 comments:
I feel ya on being a slow runner!!! Me too! Running hills and doing speed/sprint workouts have helped a lot, but I still have further to go! Good luck lady, I KNOW you can improve too!
Let me tell you a little something. When I was a freshman in high school, the cross country coach was my PE teacher. I faked "woman problems" every day to avoid dressing down and running and I ultimately failed PE because of it. FAILED PE!! How lame is that? My step dad was so mad that I failed PE that he made me go running with him every night for months and I hated that too.
Fast forward a million years and I started running to get fit because I realized what a great full body exercise it was, but I still hated it. I ended up running 2 5Ks, both right around a 10 min/mile pace.
Fast forward a little more and I am in a boot camp, shedding for the wedding and we have to run a timed mile. I finish in just under 9 minutes. At the end of that boot camp, 6 weeks later, we ran another one and I came in at 8:20!!!
I know you can do it, because I never thought I would do that, and I totally did. Keep up the good work!
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