Sunday, September 5, 2021

Give Thanks...The 15-Minute Mile


 All my life, I ran. I used to run all over as a kid. I ran to school, ran home from school, ran at school. Back then, I was much smaller and much lighter. I didn't have to run everywhere, of course, but I did mostly because I enjoyed it. I loved to run. I wasn't the best runner, but also not far from the worst. 

Funny how things change as you get older.

As the years pass, I've sort of given up on running...almost completely. I never run anywhere, not to school, not from school, not at school. Part of it is because I'm larger and heavier, which makes things much harder on the legs, shins, ankles, etc. 

When we moved, we had some extra space in the garage so we set up a small gym. We had thought about selling our treadmill before the move, but we brought it along. I'm glad we did. Every work day I go out to the garage and do a little physical activity, which includes walking a few minutes each day. As I've gotten used to exercising, I've increased my speed and distance. Just for fun, I jogged for fifteen minutes and when on the #4 setting, that totals a mile. It took me fifteen minutes to job a mile.

My old self would find that completely unacceptable. I used to run 5Ks in almost that time. But, without really running in years, maybe that's not so bad. 

Truth is, I'm grateful that my aging body can cover that distance in that amount of time. I know if I keep going, I could trim that time. I think--at my age--a ten-minute mile is a good goal to try and reach. And if I could keep up that pace for three miles, then that's something.

I found my personality pushes me when it comes to running, almost to a fault. I think I'm going to take it slow, see how my body reacts, then try and do better. Even though my legs burned, I enjoyed it--in some sick way. Yes, it took me fifteen minutes to run a mile...

But, I did run a mile.

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