To Endure, or Die? The Struggle to Run...

So along with a new living place here in the city, I thought I should take this golden opportunity to get into new healthy habits. I want to get in shape - so that I don't go panting when I climb the stairs from the subway. So that I have muscle definition in these legs.

My roommate, Hayley, runs every morning at 7am. I went with her last Monday, and never in my life have I felt so lousy. Even though Hayley's style of running is more like a drawn-out, hour-long slow jog, we hardly went 25 minutes and I couldn't go on. How pathetic! So this morning was the second time that I went with her. We ran for 20 minutes, a little faster than last week, all the way to the planetarium along the lake shore. We stopped to stretch on the back side of the planetarium, and discovered a sandy beach there. [Might I add that Chicago is the most wonderful city... parks, big buildings, cozy cafes, and random stretches of beach all within close proximity of each other.]

So we thought, 'OOOH! Let's run on the beach!!' Mistake. Running in sand is HARD, especially if you're as out-of-shape as I am. After about 10 seconds, I cried out for mercy and we took the stairs back onto the path. then we walked almost all the way back, because I could not bring myself to run any longer. Once we got back to Michigan Ave, we ran back to our building, and at a regular, quick running pace. It was exhilarating, for the 5 minutes that it lasted.

Why is starting to run so stinking difficult? Ugh... Nevertheless, I'm going to try to force myself to get up tomorrow morning and do it again. Maybe, though, I'll just go at my normal running pace and die after 10 minutes. Whatever it takes.