To be a runner...

It's no secret that I am not athletic. I was on the swim team for my freshman year of high school, but quit a month into my sophomore year. I played one season of girls' softball in fourth grade. That's about the extent of my athletic capabilities. I'm terrible at all team sports, and it is usually like pulling teeth to get me to participate in them at all. (You need to twist my arm, and then be patient with my utter suckitude. Although I usually do end up enjoying it.) The only "sport" I particularly like is kayaking, and I'm not actually good at it, I just like it a lot for some reason. Anyway, all this is just background for my newest aspiration, which is that my spring goal is to be able to run six miles in a row. I've never done that. The farthest I've ever run is three miles in a row, back in fall 2006 when I developed this actual exercise habit and enjoyed it. But I have always hated being a slug, and I don't like feeling uncomfortable in my own body, which is the way I feel whenever I have to participate in something physical (which can be as basic as walking up a hill that's a little steeper than I'm used to, but can also be my awkwardness throwing a Frisbee), and so I'm trying to take concrete steps. I have that strange kind of resolve that sometimes comes upon you for no discernable reason, when suddenly you enjoy going to the gym, and you feel weird not doing it for a day. This happens to me very rarely so I am capitalizing on it. My roommate, Dan, is a marathon runner, and he's set up a Google calendar for us to keep track of my running and for him to set me up on a program to train up to six miles at a normal person pace. (Right now, 6 miles would take me more than an hour to run.) It's pretty exciting! I just felt like sharing. I will probably post about whatever milestones I reach as I (fingers crossed) accomplish them. So far, I'm at 2 miles in a row, and my projects for tomorrow and Friday are to do interval training and then to run outside for a bit, as an adventure. Pretty jazzed!