Something my 17 year old self couldn't do

When I was in high school, I was one of those girls who walked the mile instead of running it. I walked and chatted with non-athletic friends, and clocked about a 15 minute leisurely mile. It wasn't that I was out of shape, I was a gymnast and I was very much in shape. I just never ran, short of the sprint down the runway to the vault. So today I headed out to the Tufts track, this time with a water bottle and my clip-on Ipod shuffle, which I hadn't thought to charge up for running until now.

I'm not sure why, but I had the best training yet. I walked a half a mile, ran a mile (straight! did you hear that, ghost of high school me?!), walked another half mile, then ran yet another mile! I ran two miles. And walked another. When we do the math, and we all know I love math, that equals 3 miles! And three miles (pretty much) equals a 5K! So I'm feeling good. I plan to do more of this three mile combo for the rest of the week leading up to the race. Hopefully I can get down to running 2.5 and walking just a half mile.

Would you like to know what motivated me?

• First, the music. It really helped. It also helped what type of music I had on my Ipod. I still have the songs on it from right after I bought it, which happened to be all mellow and chill: Cat Power, Rufus Wainwright, Fiona Apple, Death Cab for Cutie. At first I thought this would be the worst soundtrack to run to, but it turned out to be the best. The mellow songs helped keep me mellow, and helped me regulate my breathing.
  
  
• Second, I bought myself a new flat iron last night, because mine broke months ago and I never got around to replacing it. I told myself that if I didn't run a mile (and then, if I didn't run the second mile) I wouldn't let myself flat iron my hair when I got home. Yes! I bribed myself with straight hair! No joke! And it worked.
  
  
• Third, I think running on a track is actually good for me. I like to know exactly how much more I have to go until a mile is done. I like to be able to tell myself I'm halfway there, or that I just have one more lap to go.

So I'm feeling good, like this challenge will be a success after all, despite all the bumps in the road. My lungs feel strong and I took much less time to recover from each mile than I used to from my shorter distances, which makes me feel like I'm really getting somewhere.

When I was walking my first half mile between the miles, I did something I sometimes do at work, with my headphones on. I was swigging away at my water, listening to my headphones when I belched. LOUD. Immediately I looked around, suddenly aware of all the other people on the track. Nobody was looking, but I have no idea how loud it was, since I had headphones on. I have no idea if it reverberated through the entire athletic field or not. So of course I started laughing at the thought, and couldn't stop. And then I was not only the girl who belched, but also the girl who was laughing hysterically to herself as she rounded the track. Ahhh life.