Digging Out and Getting On (the Treadmill, that is!)

July 2, 2006

We have a treadmill. We don’t use the treadmill, mind you. It is buried in our front room, blocked in by mountains of stuff, and totally unusable.

Until today.

I cleaned out the front room while listening to motivational tapes, and eventually was able to set up the treadmill. Yay! It still works! I walked a mile, sweating profusely and threatening to quit every quarter mile.

I also looked online for marathon training for novices. Very important, since the idea of running 26 miles makes my brain say, “Shoot me now!”. Apparently, I’m supposed to start off running 1.5 miles for a few days, then increase to 3 miles by the end of the week.

3 miles???? Are you insane???

Back to the treadmill, fueled with water and Anthony Robbins. After all, how hard could this be???

Well……..it’s not easy! I did 1.5 miles, alternating between a fast walk and a slow jog. My heart’s not in great shape, I’ve babied it for years, stopping when the rate became too rapid. As a teenager I had mitral valve prolapse, and my heart would skip and start palpitations when I moved too much. I eventually gave up anything that put my heart in that state. I’ve apparently outgrown the mitral valve problem, and just have a slight murmur and a tendency towards PVCs, which I control with fish oil and Q-10.

Still, I did 1.5 miles….and I feel great!

Who knew?