Running Club: Week 2

Tonight was the second week of the running club at BSC to get ready for the Tufts 10K.

The clinic is run by a personal trainer from the club and he's a military guy. That can be a good thing when you're warming up in Copley Square and the drunks are hanging out on the benches hassling you. One guy got a little too close and he used that military voice to chase him off. Nothing mean or nasty, just that authoritive, "Hey buddy, I need you to step away now," with the tone and we're golden.

Basically he spends about a half hour doing stretching and warm up exercises. I can understand some of them like the squats and such - but the freaking down on all fours to stretch your hip flexers... not gonna happen. Especially with the spectators looking on.

Also, this girl ain't jumping. When you're blessed with a big chest, jumping jack, bounders and a few other bouncy, bouncy type things are just a hair too much. I'm not only one of the oldest women in the group, but I'm the only one who looks like she's got her own personal set of airbags in case I go down face first.

Because Mr. Bear made me wear a knee brace (he's a good bear), the first mile of the tonight's two miler (it was really 2.1 miles... but close enough) was fine. It was slow - a 13 minute pace - but fine. At the one mile mark, I knew my knee didn't want to run back, so my "buddy" and I walked with this other woman in the group. I couldn't keep pace with her - she was fast! I would walk for five, jog for one going back so it only took about 16 minutes to get back (a total of 29 minutes tonight). Again, not one of my greatest paces, but I did manage to comfortably make the distance.

Next week is a 3 mile run and I'm determined to run the whole three miles. So I may make all my runs this week 3 milers and add an extra one in. I also realize I need to give Carol a call so we can get a couple of runs in before the next time she's able to go back to the clinic.

Now if only I could talk Chaya into this, it would be too cool for words.