I hate exercising!

So for a while now I've been telling myself that I've been sedentary for far too long and that it was time to get off my rear and do something active. Joining a gym would be nice (and is still on slate for the future) but frankly, I knew until I could get a personal trainer, the membership would be wasted, as I'd avoid going and wouldn't really know what to do to achieve my desired results when I did get there. I was actually perfectly content to continue putting off exercise until I found out that several of my friends have a little running group that goes out a few times a week. Working two jobs, I normally could use the wonderful excuse of "I have to work" on the evenings when I was invited, but I knew this was short lived. On Monday, I didn't have to work, so I decided to give it a shot.

To be honest, I actually was a bit excited to run just because I knew it meant I would finally be doing something productive and, as time goes on, would get me in better shape* and help me feel better.

(*Please note that by "better shape" I do not mean as in weight loss or body toning or anything like that. I actually have one of those insane metabolisms that burns off fat as fast as I can take it in or faster. So regardless of what I eat, I've been within 10 pounds of my current weight for several years. This thin body is deceptive, however, because I can still have higher than normal cholesterol or other problems associated with a poor diet and inactivity, even if it doesn't show on the outside.)

My friends had mentioned that they normally run 3 or 3.5 miles! Yeah, Mark's never run that far in his life! Frankly, I don't really even like to drive that far most days! Nonetheless, I told them I'd tag along and see how far I could go. Well folks, I got to the park where we were running shortly after some of the others, so I was left to run on my own (which was good b/c I know I wouldn't have been able to keep their pace). After deciding to walk the first quarter-mile as a warm up, I start my jog. I wasn't sure how far I'd make it, but I knew the last time I jogged regularly (back in 2002) I really couldn't go much more than a mile without feeling exhausted and wanting to walk, so my hopes were not set very high. After running for a quarter mile, I started feeling it, but made myself go further because, honestly, that would have been embarrassing. I push myself on further and when I got to where the three-quarter mile marker would probably have been located (if it weren't missing for some reason) I finally gave up. I really felt like I was going to pass out into the canal I was running along and float down stream. Yep, that's right...after a whole half mile of running, I was done! I felt like the girl in that picture (except my guess is she'd done a bit more than a half mile) I walked the next half mile to regain my strength and was just about to start jogging again when I ran into another friend who had turned around and was on his way back. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to join him and turn around. We walked a bit more and he wanted to slow jog. I did this for a little with him, but honestly, the slow jog was more difficult to me than a full paced one I was used to, so I gave up and went back to walking.

It was horrid, all in all. I'm not lying to you, at one point I felt the strange feeling that I was going to start crying from the work, haha! Sad, huh? When it was all said and done, I formed 2 conclusions:

1. I'm more out of shape than I thought. (Actually, I'm probably just as out of shape as I thought, but I was kinda hoping that I was selling myself short. Guess not!)
2. If I actually want to make any progress, I'm going to have to do this more than the once or twice a week I was planning. Looks like I may need to do half a mile around the block every morning for a while. Something I'm not particularly looking forward to.

It's been years in the making, but it looks like Mark is finally on his way to physical fitness! Arnold Schwarzenegger would be so proud!