The Horror!

I am somewhat ashamed to report this development, but The Pit convinced me to go running tonight. Well, he went running, and I did an endlessly repeating loop of jogging/dying/walking. Afterwards he made me do sit-ups. I repeat, SIT-UPS AFTER RUNNING. How could this ridiculousness have possibly come about, you ask?

Well,The Pit has always gone running a couple times a week, and last week decided to get more consistent about it. Naturally, as running-type people are prone to do, he then got it in his head to follow a marathon-training schedule. So he announced this great idea, and asked if I wanted to train with him. Being a sane, normal person, I immediately started hysterically laughing. Seriously, that sounded like pretty much the worst idea ever.

However, as I contemplated the horror of marathon training the following night, it occurred to me that I haven't actually been to the gym in weeks. Weeks in which OL had frequently insisted that I snack on delicious delicious Milano cookies with her.* And yes, while training for a marathon is clearly for the crazies among us, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to accompany The Pit at a more sedate pace. Say, like a quick walk.

I mean, on the one hand, the gym and my favorite elliptical machine provide better exercise, but on the other hand, I'm much more likely to actually work out if I have company. Especially the company of someone a little insane about exercise.** So went my train of thought, and never one to let the perfect be the enemy of the good, I decided to put my walking plan into action.

Except when we left the house today, The Pit suggested a little bit of a jog to warm up, followed by some stretching, followed by the actual run. And of course by the time we got to his usual stretching spot, I was panting from the effort of our warm-up jog, and already had the beginnings of a cramp. Clearly, further running was going to be detrimental to my health, so as The Pit took off running, I settled into a nice walking pace.

However, my clever plan was disrupted by the presence of other joggers on the same street. All of them were putting forth so much effort, and I felt just a wee bit judged. So very reluctantly, I did my best imitation of The Pit and started actually jogging. This lasted about two minutes, and I was instantly winded again. At that point I waited until there were no other joggers in sight, and then walked for a bit. This rigmarole was then repeated several times over the rest of the route.

All in all, it very much reminded me of middle school PE classes, when we were forced to run the mile in large circles around the baseball field. 'Run' being a rather generous description of what I did, since I would slow down and walk the minute our teacher got distracted. Apparently things haven't changed much in the intervening fifteen or so years... except that now I'm volunteering for this torture instead of being forced into it by the state of California.

Dina had it right in her last comment...first prosciutto, and now this. The world really has turned upside down since I moved to the East Coast.

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* It didn't take much persuasion.

** Hi Nikole! I miss our gym/In-N-Out/Top Model routine.