Light on my Feat
The Group is back, in part.
As I expected, several members of the previous Running for Women course have signed their Fall away in order to get out and take advantage of pack learning.
We met at a different location and everything seemed shiny and new. Actually, same location, opposite side of the man-made pond. Starting our class from there gave me the impression we were already halfway done with the trail, though we had yet to begin. I don’t think that was a good thing. I grew crankier as the intervals droned on. I quickly became impatient with having to break in all of the newbies. Having to repeat my stories as different women came and went by my side and insisted I converse. I spent our walking time bestowing upon them my wealth of knowledge having to do with one’s start to their own journey to greater and fitter things.
I spoke of my experience way back when I was but a young, aspiring racer. Just taking my first slightly-quicker-than-walking steps. Trying not to lose my balance and topple over onto the perfectly symmetrical runner trotting with ease alongside me. I spun tales of how I heel-toed myself across the many miles in order to become what I am today…a simple student who has a long way to go before feeling satisfied that she’s accomplished all she can in the beginner’s course. Still, I’m confident I can move on to something that is only a vague and blurry dream right now.
The New Group seems just as rambunctious as its previous incarnation; anxious to step it up and push through these silly first weeks of less running/more walking intervals. I feel it is my duty to, time and again, repeat the fact that these baby steps are crucial to our training process and must be taken in order to get to the goal. As I’ve said somewhere on here before, (I’m almost certain), we all begin the class with our own individual ideas of how we’re going to look, act or feel upon its completion and whether our goals are to be prepared for a simple 5k or that massive marathon for which we thought we’d never be ready. For those who haven’t attended one of the sessions before, I make sure to let them know not to get their hopes up.
Sure, it’s fabulous to have big dreams.
I say “Go for it!”
I mean, I lied to myself in the beginning, too. Allowing myself to believe I would be all that I could be. The only problem was, my head’s vision of “all that I could be” far exceeded that which my body would allow. I despise it when my head and body have totally differing beliefs. Such a pain in the neck, that is.
And so, I begin again. New faces. New location. New weather. And a new, more realistic, idea of what I should expect as the evenings grow darker and the weather turns cooler and damp. I’m going to try something completely foreign to myself. I’m going to not have a goal or a specific idea of how I’m going to look, act or feel or whether I’ll be able to compete or complete a simple 5k or a massive marathon.
This time around, I’ll try to focus on today, this moment, the pain or ease I feel right now, and worry about what’s to come…when it comes.
Now…where have I stored the Biofreeze during my time off?