Tuesday, February 22, 2011

134th Rule of Friendship

Don't become friends with someone who has exponentially more athletic ability and self drive than yourself.


So I have this mom friend; how we met and became friends is a whole other story in itself. [It may have involved me stalking her down a bit, but hey she's glad I did! haha] We have a lot in common: both had a baby last year, both are teachers, both are off on child-care leave this year, both coached high school sports, and the best part is I can see her house from here.


The difference? She is a heck of a lot better athlete than me! Or maybe she is just more driven! I used to be a good athlete, but then I graduated high school. LOL. I can still keep up easily with the junior varsity girls on the cross country team, and I enjoy running with them because I can run with them the majority of the time but then sit out the really really hard workouts and write down times / act busy so I don't feel guilty. I was an assistant coach for 6 years before taking this year off and the most I ever ran at a time was 8 miles. I never run in the winter and I wouldn't say running is in my "top 3 ways to exercise".


So, to make a long story short, mom friend begged me to train and run a half-marathon with her. I wanted to say "heck no, you are crazy, I'd rather be lazy" but I know I need a kick in the butt to get these last 5 lbs off. I looked a few training tables online that looked like this:


I was feeling pretty confident! I could handle that! Then super-driven former-collegiate athlete mom friend gives me this:

Yes, that would be 9 miles next week (remember I have only ever run 8 at a time and that I never run in the winter?!!). And go ahead and forget about 14 miles with the last 4 at race pace. WOWSERS!

In conclusion, being friends with someone more driven than yourself only makes you feel inadequate and makes you much more creative when it comes to making up excuses! ;)

9 comments:

Theresa E. said...

LOL Now you know how I feel when I go geocaching with you...and you're always wayyyy ahead of me haha.
I love it though :) It's always a lot of fun!

Stefanie Blakely said...

Holy crap. You're awesome for taking this on.

Just catching up-- Happy 7 Months, B! And those ice fishing pics may be the cutest thing I've ever seen. :)

Anna & Kirby said...

Oh gosh! Those 2 charts are very different. I would have to use an easier one that you found! Remember... I wasn't much of the long distance person. ;) I am doing a 10K in April and I don't have any idea where to start. You just motivated me to figure it out and get started!

Kara said...

I've trained past a race distance before, and I'm pretty nuts. In fact, I only train up to 10 for a half!

My running groups friends think I'm the crazy one because I'm always trying to get them to run races with me (and can you believe that no one wanted to do a 50K with me??)

You're pretty awesome for agreeing to do this with her!

Casey said...

Girl, you got this! :)

Kate said...

Oh my gosh - crazy, I tell you!

Hope you enjoy it though.

Kari said...

Wow!! I only live by one rule in life for running, if your life is in danger RUN!! Running is reserved for lifesaving applications. While in the back of my head I think wouldn't it be cool to say you did a marathon and finished, good life accomplishment, the rest of my body chimes in with a big hell no-that involves running, remember? Good luck!! I'm sure you'll do great and the competitive nature should help spur you on.

Amanda said...

Haha did you know that the last post with you talking about doing crunches while playing with your baby, made me feel quite inadequate. I've been complaining about these 15 lbs of maternity weight I still have hanging around but I am not going to run 9 miles for it! haha, good luck!

Elizabeth said...

Wow- go you! I used to be somewhat of a runner, and sometimes have ideas about getting back to it...so far it's just an idea!