Catholic Exchange Virtual 5K linkup

So I thought that it would be a helpful sort of accountability if we met up here on a weekly basis to talk about how our training for the great Run/Walk/Limp/Crawl was going.

I’m including a linkup at the end of this post if you want to blog about it, or use the combox to boast of your efforts (or bemoan your slothfulness, as I’m going to do).

I have a flat out-and-back 3.1 mile route that I take (or try to take.  or think about trying to take) three times a week.  It starts from my house, where I have to pry the screen door from the hands of three little boys who have begun sobbing hysterically at the 35-40 minute maternal absence they are now going to be forced to endure.  The sprint across my front yard until their death wails are out of earshot is the fastest pace I will hit for the entire run. It won’t last long.  As soon as Ken’s put on cartoons, they settle down, and I drop back to a brisk walk before the house is even out of sight.  I tell myself that warming up cold muscles is important, and my walking is just smart- not lazy.

Usually when I run, I do so without headphones.  I’m not much of a music lover, but I am a fan of silence.  Guess which one I get exactly never?  So although the sounds of my gasping and panting as I lumber my way through a run aren’t exactly silent, it’s still a good deal quieter than the normal soundtrack that the Clan Stronghold.

But for whatever reason, this week I thought it a good idea to dust off my old iPod Shuffle, and slap together a running playlist.

As much as I love The National and Death Cab for Cutie, they make for lousy fire-up music. In fact, they’re pretty much the worst choices for running I could have found.  Instead of being inspired and full of a go-getter attitude of champions, I was about ready to sit on the side of the road and just wait for Ken and the kids to come get me.  Thankfully, the wonders of Facebook has connected me to Emily, a distant cousin-by-marriage who has a much better running playlist than I do (think: more Bon Jovi, waaaay less Moby).  Someday I may even get around to putting that list on my Shuffle.  But for now, I’ll just go back to silence.

On my non-running days (also, on days that should have been running days but weren’t) I’ve been doing lunges.  50 lunges at a time.  Which I thought was the most pain a person could put their body through until I stepped on a lego in my bare feet while doing one of those lunges.

That’s the most pain a person can put their body through.

I need to add some core training into the workout rotation, but I hate any core work with 25% of the fires of hell*, so I’ve been putting it off.  Next week for sure!  Maybe I’ll play “Marching Bands of Manhattan” while I do it, just to really make the experience as miserable as possible.

So what about you?  Link up your post about how your training has been going so far, or leave a comment so we can all encourage each other this.

* total breakdown of hellfire hatred for physical fitness= 25% core work,  25% ill-fitting workout clothes, 50% modification of diet and/or calorie restriction .

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Cari Donaldson lives on a New England farm with her high school sweetheart, their six kids, and a menagerie of animals of varying usefulness. She is the author of Pope Awesome and Other Stories, and has a website for her farm, Ghost Fawn Homestead.

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