Running Insanity

I keep meaning to post an update, but between the 365 project and hashing and C25K, I've just not really had the stamina to keep up with anything else.

I've signed up for a 10K in September, and no one is more surprised with this than I am. How did it come to this???

Week 2 was crap. I didn't enjoy a single run and I thought I was developing shin splints. ButI stuck with it and for me, that's something. I've never been much good at sticking to an exercise program. In Scotland I did this weird combo of Step class and Spanish dancing pretty regularly and even worked out on the elliptical. Here in Korea in my first year, I was a pretty regular gym goer, but since I've moved to HBC I was a regular for all of one month.

One of the things that has kept me going is where I run. I go down to the Han River at Yeouinaru and it's lovely. Each day I'd see something that would make me appreciate at least that I was outside in the sun. The poppies blooming, a guy with a parrot on his shoulder, the old man who does tai chi most days, and tiny little white butterflies flying across my path. It makes up for the bad days and the fact that at best I'm jogging along in enough of an uncoordinated way that I suspect the watching Koreans think I'm practicing to audition for a part in a zombie movie!

However, Week 3 has been incredible. Monday's run had me back to the euphoric feeling I had after the first two runs and I suspect it's the longer runs that is responsible - for all that I'm still only doing 3 minutes, it's enough to sort of hit my stride. I love small inclines, as my shins feel better, and dread running down (I'm convinced I'll fall on my face.) I've got my last Week 3 run tonight and yesterday I was even jonesing for a run - resenting the hell out of a rest day is a huge step forward for me.

I didn't understand why my friend Candace spent so much time talking abour running when I visited her in Hong Kong back in the day. I get it now. I LOVE talking about running with just about anyone who will listen - and that's how I got talked into this 10K run. It's stupid in so many ways - I'll only have done 5K by the beginning of August, leaving me only 5 weeks to double the distance of my runs. Plus, all the 10K training plans suggest that you're a beginner runner, who's been running at least 6 months, and doing 16-20 miles per week already. By August, I'll be doing 15 km a week - half that!

So, I'm looking around for a 5K to do in Toronto and might do yet another here in Seoul leading up to the 10K. As Tim pointed out, I don't have to run the entire thing - if I can only run 5K non-stop, I can finish it off in intervals of walking and running. And the cut-off time is 3 hours - I can walk 10K in less than that and do at the hashes most weekends. So, I'll finish, which at this point is my only goal. I'd love to say I'll run it all, but I think it's too early in the training to even go that far.

But I intend to finish. For someone who used to say she only ran if chased, that's still one hell of a goal to be aiming towards.