"Run, Serene, run..."

Last month, I signed up for the annual Dexter-Ann Arbor Run coming up in June. For a while now, I've wanted to train for a marathon- a little inspired by my dad, sis and best friend who've all done competitive races. I figured this is the fittest I'll probably be in my life and if I don't at least start trying to challenging myself a little more now, it's never going to happen. But being the wuss that I am, I thought I'll go easy on myself by registering for the 5K and see how that goes before trying something longer. Running the distance wasn't the challenge- I run close to that on my regular runs already anyway- doing it under 25 minutes is, or so I told myself. So I've been pushing myself a little harder everyday I run and I've made some progress, but there's just this threshold at about 5:10/K that I just can't seem to break. Plus the nerves in my feet have been tingling painfully these past weeks after every run, not to mention the fact that I almost passed out from running three days in a row yesterday...

And then I spoke with my dear best friend on the phone and she mentioned that perhaps the pain has something to do with the fact that really, at our age, our body can only be pushed that far before it retaliates. Not that we're old, but because I haven't run at those speeds till last month, and so my body's just not used to the "abuse", so to speak. That in the long run- pun fully intended- it might be more beneficial to run long distances slowly, than short distances fast- less wear and tear on the joints, muscles, and nerves.

And so, despite an (un)healthy amount of uncertainty about whether or not I can actually complete the race and some anxiety over having enough time from now till June 1 to train properly, I transfered my registration from the 5K to the 10K race. Like my friend, Stella, said, why do anything half-assed? If I'm going to run, I'm going to *run*. I've planned my first non-stop 6K for tomorrow. I'm also closing my eyes, saying (actually, whimpering, more like it...) a prayer, and crossing and fingers- let's hope I don't come to regret this... ;)