Kind of pathetic...but a good start.

Just finished my first (purposeful) run in over two years.

Before I report on how it went...please be easy on me. I know a lot of my friends are runners (and I'm reaching here by thinking anybody other than me is even reading this), so please understand that even though this is really easy for you, it's not for me. Every cell in my body is screaming, "Why are you doing this to me?!" Especially the ones in my shins.

So...my first run. I found a guide online to help me get started (http://running.about.com/od/getstartedwithrunning/ht/getstarted.htm) and it seemed too easy. For the first week I'm supposed to do intervals where I walk 6 minutes and then run 1, three times (three times a week).

I was like, "Cake. I'm just going to week 2."

Clad in my newly purchased running attire, I took off and did my warm-up walk and then started to run and ran the full two minutes. Then I wanted to quit. Instead, I reverted to the "week 1" routine. I walked 5 minutes and ran 1. Then again. At that point I was still a ways from the house, so I did it one more time, but ran for...wait for it...a minute and a half! Then I walked home and stretched. Julie showed me how.

A pretty successful effort, I thought. Over a half hour of focused running/activity. The weird part was that the walking was actually more painful the last couple of intervals because my shins and calves were hurting so badly. When I ran, they seemed to loosen up.

There's part of me that is embarrassed about all of this. My first run was pretty pathetic, by actual runners standards. But, I refuse to be embarrassed by it. I'm encouraged. I'm proud that I actually did it. It was the first step.

And first steps are hard.