Jill's sweet feet

This morning I got up to work out, grabbed my coffee and water bottle and went downstairs. I turned on the ipod and started running, and didn't stop for over 50 minutes! I ran for more than 4 miles and probably could have kept going, except I ran out of time, and had to get the boys up for school. Now, for some who actually run for fun or are training for triathlons (like my friend Jennifer B.), this may not sound impressive, especially since my average speed was only about 5 miles an hour. What's impressive is the fact that I have never before even come close to running 4 miles, nor have I ever run for more than a half an hour, and that was only last week. A typical treadmill workout for me is 2 miles of run/walking, and by then I am done physically and also totally bored. I attribute this newfound athleticism to several things:

1: New running shoes. Aaron recently scored me a new pair, to replace my 4-year-old Asics which I bought when I was pregnant.

2: New ipod. Aaron just ordered me a new Nano to replace the one of mine that was "stolen" while he was on a trip.

3. My friends Jay Z, Ludacris, Michael Jackson, Chemical Brothers, The Killers, and a variety of techno tracks from my days of music piracy on Limewire.

4. My really slow pace. I used to think that if you weren't running at least 6 miles an hour, you weren't really running. Well that's great, except I can only run a mile or 2 at 6 miles an hour, before my heart is going to beat out of my chest and I feel the need for a vomitorium (See previous post on the word of the day).

5. P90X.

If this last one sounds to you like some cheesy workout program you would buy off of an infomercial, you would be correct, sort of. Aaron bought this last year after seeing said infomercial, but the program isn't cheesy. It's hard. 6 days a week, at least an hour a day, of cardio, strength training, yoga, and something called ab ripper X, which at the beginning was as painful
as it sounds. For 90 days. Apparently it works though, because even though I didn't do any running during that 90 days, I can somehow run 4 miles now. Cool.

So what's next for someone who has always said she hated running, but now finds herself kind of enjoying it? Hmmmm. A 5K? The Race for the Cure is coming up in May, and I told Aaron I was signing us up. It should be fun, as long as all the snow has melted by then.