Alone in the Gym

I've been blessed with such a flexible lunch hour that I can take any hour any time of the day to go to the gym. Which essentially means I get to skip the peak hour at the gym and go running on the treadmill at a sane period.

That worked well for me all along until lately where I've come to realise again that running on the treadmill with nothing to distract from the pain of underused muscles is mind-numbingly dull. I used to run at the track near my house, which is one-up from the treadmill, because it actually feels like I'm moving somewhere. The treadmill however, makes me feel like some hamster in a cage running for what feels like forever in one spot. The past few days, I've been heading to the gym after work so there were lots of people and body combat classes with people yelling every now and then. I could have a little bitch session in my head about the person two treadmills down, or silently compete with the person running on the next treadmill.

Somehow when everything is silent and there isn't all that movement going on around me, time just passes oh so slowly. I become very aware of each metre I'm running and the pain felt with each step I take. I'll sit there over analysing every ache and pain and mentally willing a sudden jump in the distance run on the treadmill register (or whatever it's called). Today felt like the longest, most painful 4km run ever and I was ready to throw in the towel at 800m. I guess it didn't help that somehow over the course of the past week, I've managed to gain 2kilos. And I've been the most active the last week in ages! Anyhow, obviously the extra 2kilos weighed heavily on my mind. There was a huge battle in my head involving thoughts like 'this is really tiring because I'm lugging 2 extra kilos around with me and theoretically, even if I ran less I'm working out more because I'm packing more' and 'I have to get rid of this stupid 2 kilos of weight!' Sigh, what happened to those days where I never gained or lost weight no matter how much I ate or exercised?

Maybe this is just one of my bad days. But I am seriously contemplating just heading to the gym when it's packed with sweaty bodies. Simply because it feels just that much more interesting and to a teeny tiny extent, the run feels just that much more effortless.

In the Beginning

Well, theoretically, this isn't really a beginning, because I have been half heartedly running for the past year. I'd be very enthusiastic for a month and then very unenthusiastic for the next. As such, I haven't actually achieved anything running-wise. I have, however, managed to amass a whole heap of information on running and collected a whole array of running gear. I think I've always been more about the gear than the actual sport. People run for the love of running, I run for the love of the gear. Well, and I kind of like reading Runner's World as well. It makes me feel rather like I'm an athlete...till such point where I actually start running and realise I'm closer to the sloth end.

So anyway, I've decided to actually try setting a goal for myself. It makes life more exciting working towards something (well, my life at least) than just running just for the sake of it. Come 26th October will be the first race I'm ever going for and it's an all-women's race, which to me is racing for beginners. The aim is to make the run in less than an hour which I've been informed me is an unrealistic target after being laughed at. Nonetheless, all this doubt in my abilities, has made me determined to go under the 1 hour mark. Never mind that I've never even run 10k in my entire life, or 9k, or 8k...you get the point. But I'm thinking I've got 13 weeks to go so that should more or less give me time to achieve something...frankly, running the whole 10k would be a great enough achievement.

All in all, I've got a big plan in my head to run at least 3 times a week now and slowly (but surely) build it up to 10k. We'll see how long that lasts. Oh, did I also mention that I have a ridiculously short attention span?