That first mile

Ask even the most experienced runners and they will tell you "The first miles SUCK!" But long distance runners continue to enjoy running because after that first mile or two, things get easier, you feel better and you are able to "enjoy" the run.

Tonight was the first time I remember ever experiencing that sensation myself. Oh, I've felt the "SUCK" part plenty. But that feeling of relief and enjoyment after the first mile has never happened to me until tonight.

I started with a minute of walking then went into a run at 4.4 mph (faster than my normal 4.0 jog). I had a bit of extra energy thanks to my awesome husband who bought me an iPod for Valentine's Day. I finally got around to putting a bunch of upbeat songs intended for my runs. My rule is that I am not allowed to listen to those songs unless I am training. And I love these songs. So I have some extra motivation to run and I have lots of fun training.

Anyway... so I started off strong. I naturally also started panting. And sweating. No biggie, but its definitely not "enjoyable". About a half a mile into the running, my throat starts burning from my heavy breathing. My mouth is now dry. And I have a headache. This was not good news since I knew I had to do 3 miles tonight. I decided to stick it out through the end of the song that had just started (Firework by Katy Perry) and then I would walk for a little bit. As Firework started drawing to an end, my iPod and Katy Perry got all sneaky on me and the next song (Last Friday Night by Katy Perry) literally blended right in and started playing with no break. I wondered if I should keep running since the music never really ended. It was at this point that I realized I was feeling pretty good compared to how I had felt earlier. My throat wasn't on fire anymore. And I didn't feel like I was pushing myself to move - it felt more automatic now. So I decided to keep running through the next song. Then I continued through the NEXT song. It was surprising! When I finally slowed to a 3.5 mph walk, I saw I had run 1.16 miles! This isn't a big deal to a regular runner at all, but for me, this is HUGE! I normally have to take lots of breaks throughout my training. Run 0.2 miles, walk 0.1, run 0.2, walk 0.1. So to run 1.16 straight, it was a great improvement.

In my 3rd mile, I started to get pretty tired, but that's to be expected since I'm in TRAINING and I'm used to 2 miles. But I still ended up running the majority of the time. And none of it was as hard as that first mile.

So, I shall continue my training with a brighter outlook knowing that the first mile will always SUCK, but those next miles might actually be fun (especially with the right music)!