The coaches at the NY Road Runner’s club told our group that we should run at least four times a week.
“Don’t run for distance,” she said, “run for time.”
My daughter and I figured out a game plan. We are scheduling to run on Saturdays, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Thursdays being the day that we run with our running club and the other days we would either do it alone or try to do it together.
On Saturday, I put on a pair of Nike shorts and tank and my daughter wore a similar outfit and we walked to the Long Beach Middle School, where there is a brand new track. She was wearing her Asics and I wore my Brooks running shoes.
We got to the track and saw a man and woman also training. The woman was fast. We were both intimidated. But, we decided to just go for it and forget that anyone else was there.
We ran around the track once and both looked at each other and grinned. I knew how she felt because the backs of my legs were burning. I was barely able to go a mile. She did a little more than me, but not much more.
I explained to her that this happens. “There are days when you just can’t do it and you just can’t get down on yourself. We tried today and we did what we could do. At least we got out,” I said.
She was still feeling a little blue, but we went back to my house, took showers and felt a lot better.
When Sunday came, we were both eager to get going. This time, I wore my Brooks running outfit along with my Brooks shoes. She continued to wear Nike and her Asics and we walked to the Long Beach Boardwalk.
The boardwalk is 4.2 miles (2.1 each way). “Okay, let’s set our clocks for 20 minutes and then at that point, let’s see where we are at,” I said.
We both put on our headphones using the Nike app with the GPS and then took off. We didn’t run fast, but ran at a comfortable pace so that neither one of us were breathing heavy.
As we ran, we saw other runners, some with strollers, and lots of people on bicycles. The beach wasn’t that crowded, which surprised me since it was Father’s Day and I thought that would be a perfect place to go to with your dad.
The sky was blue with wisps of clouds. It was hot, but we tried not to think about the heat. We knew we needed to run 20 minutes because of the day before where we could barely run 12 minutes.
We ran steady and kept going. We passed the new Allegria Hotel, the Hoffman Manor and the second bathroom on the boardwalk. We knew we were almost at the end and kept running.
“You’re almost there,” my Nike GPS app said to me as it interrupted my running song.
A couple of minutes later, it said, “Congratulations, you have reached your goal of 20 minutes.”
Since we were not at the end of the boardwalk, my daughter and I decided to keep on going. When we passed St. Ignatius Church, we knew we were almost at the end. We saw the big Vito’s sign and knew this was it and we could keep going.
We got to the end and gave each other a high five. We were proud of ourselves for being able to run 2.1 miles straight without walking or taking a break. Both of us knew it was a big accomplishment and felt really good about ourselves.
I think we will do great this Thursday at the Runner’s Club…
Article first published as A Runner’s Diary: My First Two Miles In a Long Time on Blogcritics.
