I hit the gym today with the intention of getting back on the treadmill. I've been doing slow and steady for a month now, and I thought I'd mix it up, either going for speed or adding incline for the first time.
I went for speed. I finished my mile in 12:35.
This was my first time breaking 13 minutes. It was my fastest mile of my adult life. Another 35 seconds and I'll achieve the fastest mile I've ever run, ever.
The 12-minute mile has been my goal for years. Every time I go back to the gym to try this fitness thing again, that goal remains. I remember being a sophomore in high school, on the last day of gym class, trying to meet the requirement for passing gym: running a 12-minute mile. It was just me and the teacher, with her stopwatch, out on the track. She wanted me to achieve this, I knew it was important to her. But I'd never been taught how to run.
"Come on!" she yelled as I rounded the track the first time. "You can walk a twelve-minute mile!"
Experience and training have taught me that, no, I can't. As a 5'2" woman, this will never happen. But I tried. I walked and I ran and I limped. I tried my guts out.
I finished in 12:02.
She let me pass and I made a point of never running again.
Today, I'm within 34 seconds of the fastest mile I've ever run in my life. I'm still not sure how this happened, but here it is!
The best part of tonight's run was that it felt good. Very good. I didn't have that crappy, where-are-my-endorphins? feeling that I usually have during the first few minutes. It felt like I was flying from the start. I still got tired, and I had to bail out a few times before I wanted to, but it never hurt. It never scared me. It was all kinds of awesome.
So. Yay! Another milestone, one more on the horizon.
Lisa - I actually REMEMBER that story about phy ed. Pretty cool acheivement. It makes me thankful for my heigt. I always took it for granted, but I'm sure it helped on those mile days. *high five!*
ReplyDelete-jenny
walk a 12 minute mile? was this woman 6' tall? The fastest mile I ever ran was 11 minutes and I felt like I was sprinting the whole freakin' time! I don't care to go faster than 12 min miles. I couldn't fathom walking one. Crazy tall people.
ReplyDeleteAlso, badass achievement, yo.
Emily
Oh and that 11 minute mile was in grad school, not in high school. I consistently went at like 12-13 minute walk/run miles in high school, at the fastest. I was super slow. Short legs ftw?
ReplyDeleteEmily
Thanks, ladies! :D
ReplyDeleteEmily, seriously, I don't know if she thought she was being encouraging or what. It didn't work, that's for sure! The fastest pace I can walk is at around an 18:30 mile, and I think I can keep that up for a couple minutes before my hips want to pop apart like Tinker Toys.
I occasionally amuse myself by looking over at treadmills next to me, when the people on them are running at the same tempo I am. They're going, like, 2mph faster than me. Jerks. :)