Church Ball game tonight- since I didn't get a run into today I just tried to run hard the entire game. I feel like I should make a note that one year ago today I took that fateful step onto the treadmill that would result in a transformation of body, mind and soul that has changed me forever. I will never forget that first "run" - a Jillian Michaels iFit program where "Jillian" is in control of your speed and incline, adjusting one or the other (or both) every minute. It was a meager 30 minutes of jogging and a lot of walking, with the incline changing throughout. While I never slowed it down or decreased the incline, a good part of that first run was spent holding on to the sides, and I think I even had to step off onto the rails a time or two. My breathing was heavy, I could feel my heart trying to leap from my chest as sweat poured down my face...it was near torture, but I had made a commitment to myself that today was the day everything would change. When the 30 minute program I was complete I looked down at the distance - a scant 1.65 miles!! (if my memory serves me). I was wrecked, I literally crawled up the stairs from my basement and then laid on the floor in my family room until I didn't feel dizzy and could actually breath. This probably is not the "doctor recommended" way to start a workout program, but it did make me decide then and there that I didn't want to feel like this ever again (especially after running only a mile and a half!!). While I've mostly left the treadmill for "greener pastures" outside, I still hop on every now and then to have Jillian kick my butt (on a much higher program now!), and theres not one run that I go on that I don't, at least for a second, think about that first run.
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