To Be Honest. . .

I decided to get up and go for a run this morning and as I'm driving to the trail where I wanted to run I met someone else running. Now, it was 6:30 in the morning but he's running down a two lane highway in the MIDDLE of the road. And when he sees me coming, instead of getting over to the side of the road he's supposed to get on he crosses to the other side (without looking) and after I passed him, he goes back to running in the middle of the road. What the heck? And as if that wasn't weird enough, on my way home I met another person running down the middle of another road. Really people, didn't you ever learn what it meant to stay on the SIDE of the road?

Anyway, that wasn't why I sat down to write this blog. Well, other than the comment that I got up and went for a run this morning. On my own. It's Saturday. There's no boot camp today and six months ago you wouldn't have caught me thinking about running anywhere without someone making me do it. So the fact that I got up with that purpose in mind is quiet impressive. Okay, maybe just to me but anyway. . .

I wanted to get out to the trail before anyone else did. I'm still not impressed with the idea of running with other people around unless I know the other people. And hey, I ran an entire mile without stopping. Not really sure how long that took because I had shorts on with no pockets and I had 1) a bottle of water, 2) car keys, and 3) the cell phone with the clock on it. I chose the first two thinking they'd be more important than the cell phone as it's a pretty busy trail. If something happened someone would come along (and sure enough someone did--not that anything happened). Okay, I'm rambling again. . .

The reason I was wondering if I could even run a mile without stopping is because somewhere in her brilliant mind my trainer seems to think I should sign up for a triathlon next summer. My email reply to that was, "Triathlon! Are you crazy???" But I have to be honest. I got into this whole fitness thing when coworkers were running 6K's in New Mexico and I was huffing and puffing my way down a 2 mile walk. I knew then that it was time to do something about this. And I always thought it'd be kind of cool to be a runner.

I hadn't really given competitive running much thought though. Not that I'd be running to compete against anyone but myself but I still hadn't thought about it much. Until this summer. Alexis, one of my trainers, was competing in a triathlon that looked like it'd be an amazing course just to see. I love walks through historic, old towns and beautiful country and it kind of reminded me of something like that. Then, when I was in Maine for the 4th of July I found out (well, I already knew about it. I was reminded of it.) they do a 10K walk/run called the Stonington Six (not sure where the name came from). But my whole reason for going to Maine on the 4th is to play in the community band since I rarely get to play my flute these days and I never play my piccolo anymore. So when I went to the Stonington Six race that morning I only walked the "fun run" part of the race which was about two miles maybe. The whole time I was thinking, maybe next year I could run this race. That'd be kind of cool. But, then that other voice in my head goes, "you might miss playing in the band if you did that." Well, let's just say after the disappointing band this year, I don't think I'd mind missing it next year. So, hopefully next year on the 4th of July you can catch me running/walking the full course for the Stonington Six.

Now, back to this triathlon thing. I think Alexis is getting early onset Alzheimer's or something (by the way, Happy Birthday, Alexis!). Either that or she's just loosing her mind in general. :-) Just kidding. To be honest, like I said, I'd been thinking it'd be kind of cool to run in a race. But bicycle and swimming?? I can doggie paddle! I'd have to find a pool in Maine because even if I live 3/10 of a mile from a lake I'm not swimming in it during the winter and heck if I'm setting foot in the north Atlantic either!! Brrr! And that bicycle thing, I did get my bike out earlier this summer for the first time in a year. I had to walk it up a hill about a mile into the ride. Yeah, gotta work on that one. So, Alexis, wanna come to Maine and train me? It's a beautiful place to ride if you don't mind putting your life into the hands of the lunatic drivers up there! But maybe. . . We'll see.