Happy-Dance Time!

Dear Whole Wide World,

I could hardly wait to get home and write.  Guess what I did this morning. 

I jogged 1/4 mile three times! 

I was going to be ecstatic enough after my first jogging lap, but by the time I'd finished a walking lap after that, I found myself jogging a second lap!

During my first lap I was jogging like Estelle Getty's "Sophia" on Golden Girls: shuffling, a little hunched over.  That, I decided, was probably why my upper back was hurting.  So when I started breathing again, I reminded myself to follow Cathy's advice and keep my shoulders back.  It worked!

I found my throat closing up almost immediately, par for the course when I jog.  This time though, I heard followed Carol's advice and thought for a minute to figure out what was bothering me -- was it physical or mental?  Turns out it was mental, the old self esteem issues.  I was really afraid of passing the walkers in front of me, for fear of being seen as slow, fat, and weak (ironic that I was afraid of being seen as slow if I was passing them, and weak when I was strong enough to push myself, but such is self esteem).  So I decided to jog behind them; not like a stalker, but using them like that little guy I follow when I Wii jog.  Whatever works.

During my second jogging lap I started a cadence, thanks to Kim.  Kim has a goal to weigh less than her husband, even for a day.  I love that goal and I decided a couple weeks ago that I'm going to weigh less than my husband.  It's a goal that makes me smile.  So when that lap started getting hard, I started "Less - than - Pat. (step)  Less - than - Pat. (step.)"  It worked!  I got through the mentally hardest part of the track!

During my third jogging lap I thought about how even though I was doing a solo workout, I was far from alone. 
  *  My dad was with me -- I saw his hospital room, where we spent our last days together; the track & football field I was on was one of his coaching grounds. 
  *  Cathy, Carol, and Kim were with me in the advice and inspiration they've shared with me.
  *  My husband was there in the pace that I kept.
  *  My kids were there in the memory of the times we've tracked together.
  *  The midges were there in a swirling banner of celebration.
  *  The Spirit that comes with the rising sun, with rushing wind, with silver clouds, and with water and trees was there, fully alive.
  *  And as luck would have it, there were three other people on the track.  While I was on my cool-down lap, one of the three happened to reshape the bumper on the car I'd driven.  C'est la vie.

I started jogging this morning because I'm going to register for this.  "This" is a 5K training program being run by Euclid Parks & Rec.  We'll meet Saturday mornings for a hour and have jogging homework.  Hopefully I've convinced a couple people I know to join me because I can't deny that I have doubts that I'll be able to jog a 5K by October. 

But I won't deny myself the thrill of trying.