Slug(ish) Fest

I thought I would get involved with the PTO of my son’s new middle school.  I’m not a particularly ‘gala’ gal and selling stuff I’ve never been good at.  But organizing, sorting, writing, that kind of stuff is right up my alley… so I agreed to be the “P” part Chair of the school’s 5K.  A decision whose ramifications did not illuminate themselves immediately.

The first clue was when my daughter asked me if I went to the gym anymore.  “No, honey. Our gym closed down.”  Says she, “There’re other gyms, mama.”  Yikes!  It was not the first time she had remarked on my weight. 

I chose the 5K for a number of reasons.  First, I’ve done them… In a time BC (before children) though, but nonetheless I am familiar with the whole deal.  Second, it was the latest event in the school year that didn’t have a chair yet.  Lame, yes, but I figured it’d give me time to get my sea-legs at the school.

Then my son mentioned my actual legs.  I don’t recall what he said exactly or the context but the gist was I needed to be able to actually run a 5K if I was going to organize one…  Ummm….  He is right of course.  And time is not slowing down waiting for me to get motivated.

So I started with a cleanse.  I tried to do 28 days, made it three weeks.  I wasn’t perfect but I was already starting to feel lighter.  The problem of course is my (*gulp* 50lbs? overweight) body is out of shape and sluggish.  For a number of reasons.  I broke my arm in January 2012, pretty badly, and then rebroke it in May of that year.  Gravity was not my friend for many months but painkillers were (I don’t mean it like that! Seriously…), and I ended up taking prescribed and then over the counter ones for about 5 months, which it turns out, is a very long time and a very lot of pain killers for a poor little body to process.  Then physical therapy, focused on my arm and so the legs were a little neglected…. Flash forward to 18+ months later and the arm is fine, almost like it never happened apart from a barely noticeable bump, and a little pain when it’s overworked.

But I can’t blame it entirely on the broken arm.  I’d been living in the lap of relative sedentary living since I had children.  Ironically, when they were smaller and needed more care it was easier to get to the gym more regularly.  It’s nice when the gym is entertaining for the kids to go to so you can avoid the fuss and subsequent guilt.  Then our gym closed down, then we went to another and that one closed down!  But honestly, even with a place to work out running hadn’t been on my menu for a while.  I just have felt heavy and sluggish for years (thus the cleanse) and running has never been easy for me or readily enjoyable no matter what the long term benefits.  That said, before my son was born I actually was just starting to get into triathlon and thought I’d continue it on a few months after the kids were born… well…  Turns out what was on my menu was kid food.  It is that anxiety that is born of a sense of lack, that preternatural inability to waste food.  So what hopped on to my menu were things kids didn’t finish, the three goldfish left in the cup, the other 10 cookies the kids and I baked and ate exactly one each and refused any more, the leftovers everyone else in the household declined to eat, the grapes that were about ready to become raisins that then went into my already full lunch.  It was a problem, one I have been addressing.  But still, I feel sluggish.

And yet, here it is almost October.  I know me and how long it took me to get ready to run my first 5K and I am seriously pushing it.  So, today, with afternoon temperatures finally in the heavenly 90s (I know that sounds weird but I live in the Coachella Valley where for almost 5 months it doesn’t dip into the 90s till midnight) and a cool breeze, I thought I’d get me and the dog off our fat asses and run around the soccer park.  OK, yes, I hear ya, that’s funny… hahaha, run!  OK, let’s call it a fast schooch – with pain.  Buttercup did not understand why she didn’t get her nice leisurely sniffy-fantastic tool around, and I most certainly looked silly.  But I got it done.  The start.  Phew.  Many more portions of miles to go!