A Cyclist goes running....

It sounds like the start of a joke, doesn't it...
I guess it could still turn out to be one. But it's true.

Back in July, on the first of our hiking adventures in Colorado (the 7 mile one with the rabid skunks, rattle snakes and black widow spiders, not the one where I broke my finger at 14,000 feet) Br offered up a challenge in the form of "Wanna run a 1/2 marathon with me?" I'm still not sure she actually meant to invite me. I think it was the exposure, lack of water and extreme conditions talking. After all, She had stepped off the trail at one point. But "Adventure" is her middle name (Big Adventure Ring?).

I think BR knows me well enough how obsessive I am. With a simple "ok", I committed. I was in for a penny, in for a pound.

Of course I kind of forgot about it for several days. The first challenge I had to survive was the 14'er the next day. I'd only done about 4-5 total hikes prior to this in my life!
I DID survive that, at the expense of my left ring finger being forever slightly bent. The rest of our Colorado adventures were timid comparatively (except for that one night.... I didn't know Ashley had moves like Jagger... I digress).

We returned to Sea level and regular life ensued. Then it dawned on me... I had committed to something, I'd better actually investigate it further. First, I double checked with Kate... Yes, she was serious. Second, registration....WHOA! $110?? Hmmm, I started on a work around for that one...
Thirdly, I'd never run more than 5 miles. I hadn't run more than 1-2 times a month at any given point since I discovered two wheels are inherently better than two heals.
Hmmm again... That presented a challenge, but not one I wasn't up for. After all, in the last two years, my fall training plan had included some running to prep for cyclocross.

So I set out on the trusty interwebs to find a training plan. Then, after finding several million, I systematically picked one (the first one that looked easy to follow and I could print out) and proceeded to gather advise from those who've done this crazy stuff before me.

Fast forward to today, 9.15.12. Five weeks in. some how, magically, I have managed to increase my mileage from 3.1 to 5 to 7 to 9 and today........ 10 Miles!
It still feels really slow and inefficient to run. My legs just don't move in the circles I long for. The breeze just doesn't feel the same. Granted, I AM slow. I managed a 9:30 minute average mile on one 5k run, but typically I am a 10-10 1/2 minute miler.

Who'd-a-thunk it. I might actually be a runner somewhere in there. But I can promise you this.... There will be NO swimming.