312 days left : Club Footed Penguin

Okay so while the last two weeks have been occupied with two great vacations it is time once again to buckle down and get into my training rhythm.

Monday I did run 3 miles and I am sort of happy to announce I ran (without stopping) an entire mile for the first time ever. Yes I think I can safely say that is progress and I might be improving a little bit. This was a big accomplishment because now I know I can do it. But the sad part is now that I know I can do it I need to continue doing it.
I don’t know about you real runners but when I get out and begin to run I seem to always have this constant discussion (psycho babble) within my head. It starts like this.


“Okay I am going to run now”
“Why?”
“Ssshhh I am going to run my 3 miles because I haven’t run in 5 days”
“Why”
“Because I want to!”
“Why”
“Shut up were doing this.”
“Who you talking too? You’re crazy! You shouldn’t be in charge.”
Here we go (I begin running at this point to end the internal dialogue more than anything else)
Several steps later this conversation changes,
“O the left knee feels really crunchy today” “Maybe we should stop?”
“No”
“Ow so does the right knee” crunch crunch crunch
“No stopping”
“Owe”
“Ohh”

“Well my back seems to be holding up okay, and after a 100 yards or so my knees should warm up and I can stop running like a club footed Penguin.
Here is what I imagine I could look like whenever I think of running:

Picture the image of a runner with long graceful strides rapidly flowing down this wide open country road. The golden sun shines and the cool breeze rushes over the grasses as the runner smoothly and quietly rolls across the asphalt as if he/she was a part of nature itself.
Then what I look like:

Picture a club footed Penguin escaping the cage of a circus wagon hobbling across the burning asphalt in the middle of Death Valley. The Penguin is favoring his right leg wheezing so loud it sounds as if you were switching a Dyson vacuum on and off as fast as you can about 30 times a minute. His path is jolted and unsteady while he appears to either really drunk or very unbalanced. Occasionally his jiggly head which lolls side to side lifts to reveal a glazed over thousand yard stare and spittle drooling out the right side of his mouth. The red face and cheeks reveal how much he is not really meant to be out here on this god forsaken road. Somebody please shoot the animal and end its’ misery. Oh that’s right it is not an animal it is Nick training. No need to perform the mercy killing, he looks like it won’t be long now before he collapses.
I tried using the IPOD today and it does distract me a little so that I forget how much I hate running for short periods at a time. They are very short periods. They need to be longer.
I am surprised I was able to complete the mile and I feel really proud of it, then I remember I have to do it again in a couple days. Yuck! This makes me think I am still more CP than Triathlete.
Today (Tuesday) I joined a health club and am planning on beginning swimming two times a week starting Thursday October 1st.
I need to begin the daily Yoga practice again which is difficult because it means a 4 am wake up. Ohhh that is never easy.
I imagine one day I will be able to RUN the entire 1.5 mile loop 3 times and this will be my goal. I am signing up for my first 5K in November and I really want to run the entire thing. I want to run and look like I imagine a runner should look like. Which might seem like a silly thing to want but I don’t care I still want it.


“I want to be a lion
Everybody wants to pass as cats
We all want to be big big stars, but we got different reasons for that
Believe in me because I don't believe in anything
and I want to be someone to believe” – Counting Crows