This is one of my favorite people stories in terms of someone progressing from sedentary to active. I met Audra just after I moved to Charlotte in 2003. We ended up being on the same flag football team in a league. The first practice I noticed she wasn't what you'd call 'athletic'. By looking at her standing still you'd never know it since she was slim albeit soft, but once she started trying to run around the field and catch passes, it was fairly clear we had our work cut out for us on this one.
After a couple of weeks of night games, that we typically lost, I suggested to Audra that she try running to get into better shape (not body shape, but cardio shape). After a look of disgust, Audra said....
Well, here's Audra's account of how she went from soft to a marathon running veteran:
Bubba And The Beast – Audra Hausser
Setting the bar
“If you see me running, you’d better stop and pick me up, because someone’s chasing me.” This is what I told my friend Nicole when she wanted me to take up running with her. Running wasn’t just my least favorite thing, I hated it. I’ve had asthma all of my life and I’ve never pushed myself aerobically. Having Asthma was always a great excuse and it worked on Nicole.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work with Tim. Tim was on my flag football team and had started Sharksbite Road Runners. I guess after many unsuccessful attempts to attract runners to the club, he decided he’d just create new runners. He wouldn’t accept my excuses, but offered to help me. He put me on a training program to run a 5K after seven weeks. It would have ended there. I could have humored him a bit, pretending to work on the program until eventually he stopped bugging me. But he unwittingly found my Achilles’ heel. “You’ll run it in 28 minutes,” he said.
He’d set the bar. By nature I can’t back down from a goal for fear I may disappoint someone. Even worse, when someone sets the bar for me I have to raise it. It’s a genetic defect that I must exceed expectations and I’m convinced it will eventually lead to my downfall. He’d set it at 28 minutes, but in my mind I raised the bar to 26:30 minutes. This was a lofty goal. Especially considering that I got winded just running from my front door to the mailbox.
Finding Inspiration
Theresa at my gym turned 50 last year. I was shocked when she told me her age. She didn’t look older than 35. When I told this story to my mother, she asked me if Theresa was a runner. She is. Sometimes she runs 20 miles just for fun. “That’s why.” My mother said. It turns out that my parents’ friend Len is also a runner. “Len looks like he’s in his50s, but he’s actually over 65. He’s retired and is an avid runner.” She said. Could running be a fountain of youth? Having tried several eye creams that promised to maintain a youthful appearance, but only burned my skin or stunk, I decided that running was worth trying.
Training
The program that Tim put me on started with alternating running and walking for 5 minutes at a time. It seemed short on paper. My first attempt was on a treadmill at the gym. I quickly found that running was the longest way to spend 5 minutes. My lungs and throat burned and my bronchial tubes felt like I had a huge hole in them. I hated Tim.
When I got to work, Tim had sent me an e-mail. “Did you start the program today? Walk 5 minutes/Run5 minutes for 25 minutes.” “Yes, I started this morning.” I responded to the pain mongrel. I hated him after only one day. I stuck with the program, pretty diligently. Which was difficult. There wasn’t a lot of room for days when I didn’t feel like running or when it was just difficult to fit into my schedule. But I was determined to meet my goal.
December 2, 2003, I ran 30 minutes on the treadmill without stopping! I was so excited! I e-mailed Nicole as soon as I got to work to share the news. She was very excited for me. The pain mongrel was very excited for me as well. It was a wonderful feeling. However, I still had not run 3.2 miles. On December 21, 2003, I ran 40 minutes without stopping. It was agony! All I could think about was my screaming lungs! It felt great to finish, but I wondered if it was worth it. I didn’t think it would ever get easier. If hell truly is your mind’s eye of hell, at this point in my training, I was sure that hell was an endless run.
Discouraged
I found that there were good running days and very bad running days, but no in between. The first time I ran outside was the worst day of my training. Without a treadmill to pace me, I pushed myself too hard. Not only did I have pain in my chest and throat, but now in my shins and thighs. I wasn’t able to run the full amount on the program. I began wondering why I was doing it in the first place. The pain mongrel tried to be supportive. He encouraged me with stories about Patrick’s (another of his trainees) training and progress. I protested that it wasn’t the same thing. Patrick was 5 years younger, taller and didn’t have asthma. The pain mongrel was not convinced.
Bubba
I managed to get through the training program and felt pretty good about my progress when January 3, 2004 arrived. The New Year’s Resolution 5K was held at the Police and Fire Training Academy. I wasn’t nervous about it, even though I still had not run 3.2 miles in under 28 minutes. It was a beautiful, unseasonably warm day, which I hoped would help my asthma. The course turned out to be the same course used to train police officers and fire fighters. It wasn’t anything like running on a treadmill or any of the courses that the pain mongrel had me run. It started out relatively flat, but soon I was climbing steps and running down a dirt trail. There were more hills, endless flat stretches and it seemed like it would never end!
Then came Bubba. The organizers had tried to prepare us. Bubba was a hill that was so steep and so long, I was sure you couldn’t drive a car up it and I didn’t know how I’d run up it. Of course it was at the last mile of the race. My chest hurt so badly, I was sure there was a hole in it. I could taste blood and you could hear me breathing within a one-mile radius. Half way up, I wanted to quit. But then I looked and saw the pain mongrel at the top of the hill. He had finished, won his division and was waiting at the top of Bubba for other members. Maybe I was hallucinating, but I swear with the sun behind him I saw the outline of devil horns and a pointed tail. After making it past Bubba, with encouragement from the sadistic pain mongrel, it took another quarter of a mile for my breathing to steady. I crossed the finished line having run the entire length of a 5K for the first time in 29 minutes and 10 seconds.
Addiction
Nicole’s husband, Kurt, told me that I would get addicted to running. He was right. Since the New Year’s Resolution 5K, I’ve run one other 5K race. I came in at 28 minutes and 44 seconds. I’m continuing to increase my speed and work towards longer distances. Every week it seems I set a PR. The feeling after running is incredible and it seems to get a little easier every time I do a course. By setting smaller goals for myself I feel like I am really working towards accomplishing my ultimate goal of running a 5K in 26 and half minutes.
1 comment:
thanks for the info it will surely can help me a lot
Cheers
Post a Comment