Sunday mornings

The second to last thing I want to do in the morning is get out of bed. The last thing I want to do in the morning is get out of bed and go running.

This might sound odd but during the heat of July I could not feature running. My body wasn't in great shape and I didn't want to hazard the ills of urban running (pollution and heat exhaustion). There was no way I was going to get up early to avoid the heat and pollution. Unh unh.

When I was in the country I decided that mowing the lawn constituted a form of training. Sunday morning I'd hop out of bed bright and early, throw on clothes and sun block, and get to work!

Keep in mind that my lawn is over an acre in size. After wearing a pedometer I came to find that I was walking 4 miles while mowing the lawn. I decided to make this an athletic event by doing it really quickly. The fastest time I ever logged was two and a half hours. I'd return to the house drenched in sweat and in much need of water, a shower, and a nap.

Now that the weather has cooled I’ve started my Sunday mornings getting out of bed (early) and going for a run. For a few weekends I ran in the country and I had sort of made a pact with myself that I would never race. (Spirit colors? Unh unh.) Then as I started running and reading about running I realized that the only way to bring the sport into focus was to have a goal, otherwise it was nearly impossible for me to gauge if I was making progress.

I’ve decided to specialize in 5Ks -- mostly because there are so many of them I can run at least one per month. I’ll run a few 10ks, just for laughs, and I hope to g*d I never run a marathon but I suppose it is within the realm of possibility. (I swore I'd never play golf and let’s just say, now I play golf.)
My training had been haphazard until I realized that I was going to run a race. I went from building up to running a mile (to get into shape) one week, to running three miles (looking to finish a 5k) the next. I’m not terribly concerned with my time right now especially since I’m not taking the most sensible approach. I’ve decided on a goal for this weekend’s race: finish in one piece. I’m running 12-minute miles but that includes some walking. I want to get a couple of races under my belt before I decide where I want my time to be. And I’d like to cut out all the walking. (There’s a woman in my age group, and region, who is running 8 minute miles – she’s set the bar rather high but at least I know what to aim for.)

This morning I was reading an article on Runner’s World and there was mention of running negative splits as the race wears on. Yeah right.

There’s only one crimp in my training program over the next couple of months. Hunting season begins, which means I might have to run in the city. The thought of running in the city makes me want to give up running altogether.

It looks like I’ll be taking the car to Jerzee to measure a 5k distance and a 10k distance and start commuting in order to exercise.  A couple of weeks ago I did some sprints on a high school track in NJ and I was beyond annoyed when I flew past a son and father who were seated on the bleachers and one of them said, “I think it’s a woman.” That comment brought me right back to my youth when I was given endless amounts of shit for nonconformity. In the near future I’m hoping to let my time speak for itself. I’ll drag my tranny ass across the finish line and let the clock do the talking.

It’s just amazing to me that I’m 45 years old and for the past, oh, 40 years I’ve had to listen to people speculate on my sex and gender. And most of the time other people are talking serious amounts of smack: judging me, trying to tell me who I should be, how I should dress, etc etc.

Over the past couple of years I was flying below the radar but I can’t feature that anymore. I’m not going to be one bit surprised when I get flack about my gender once I start racing. The big surprise will be when I don’t get any looks or comments. (I’ll be sure to let you know when that happens.)

In the meantime, my spirits are not the least bit dampened. I plan to race and get good at it.