Fallon Field is maybe four blocks from my house, and it has a nice paved walkway around it.  This is where I decided to take my first run on the Couch to 5K plan.  In the first round of 60s jogging/90s walking, I felt impressed with myself.  I was a little winded, but got over it in time to confidently break into a jog.  This might not be so bad, I thought.  Well that was dumb. During the second round I didn’t bounce back quite as easily as I would have liked, but my normal running agony wasn’t evident in the way it normally would be.  A little breathless, but doable.  No joint pain,  no hot-feeling face, no stitches. Then came the stitches. Then the flushed face. Then the joint pain, but I found a good breathing rhythm to get rid of the stitches.  By the last round, I was running in the same way a septuagenarian might while finishing up the Boston Marathon.  Or like Victor Kulak trying to get away from Neil in Wet Hot American Summer, at best. In the end I was sore.  My legs felt like they were moving involuntarily as I walked home, telling myself that I was so awesome for following through with that first-level exercise that I deserved to go home and drink water until I was sick.   I walked into the house and announced that the rumors were true - I was, indeed, awesome.  I told my roommate that I was going to go take a shower, and that if the water was still running in an hour it meant I had probably passed out and drowned. It was kind of funny - during the seconds before I was due to break into a jog, I had the same panic I have when I walk into a first date and scan the room to see if he’s there yet.  Now that’s something only someone as afraid of physical activity as I am would feel. One downside of the park is that there is always a game of sorts going on in the field this time of year, and I swear I heard kids laughing at me as I panted my way past them a fifth time.  Had I the breath, I would have laughed at them for bringing their bats and gloves, only to find the field was occupied by a company softball game.  Serves them right. I am proud of myself, though.  Really!  I will do this again on Wednesday.  For now, I’m going to take some ibuprofen and go to bed.

Fallon Field is maybe four blocks from my house, and it has a nice paved walkway around it.  This is where I decided to take my first run on the Couch to 5K plan.  In the first round of 60s jogging/90s walking, I felt impressed with myself.  I was a little winded, but got over it in time to confidently break into a jog.  This might not be so bad, I thought.  Well that was dumb.

During the second round I didn’t bounce back quite as easily as I would have liked, but my normal running agony wasn’t evident in the way it normally would be.  A little breathless, but doable.  No joint pain,  no hot-feeling face, no stitches.

Then came the stitches.

Then the flushed face.

Then the joint pain, but I found a good breathing rhythm to get rid of the stitches.  By the last round, I was running in the same way a septuagenarian might while finishing up the Boston Marathon.  Or like Victor Kulak trying to get away from Neil in Wet Hot American Summer, at best.

In the end I was sore.  My legs felt like they were moving involuntarily as I walked home, telling myself that I was so awesome for following through with that first-level exercise that I deserved to go home and drink water until I was sick.  

I walked into the house and announced that the rumors were true - I was, indeed, awesome.  I told my roommate that I was going to go take a shower, and that if the water was still running in an hour it meant I had probably passed out and drowned.

It was kind of funny - during the seconds before I was due to break into a jog, I had the same panic I have when I walk into a first date and scan the room to see if he’s there yet.  Now that’s something only someone as afraid of physical activity as I am would feel.

One downside of the park is that there is always a game of sorts going on in the field this time of year, and I swear I heard kids laughing at me as I panted my way past them a fifth time.  Had I the breath, I would have laughed at them for bringing their bats and gloves, only to find the field was occupied by a company softball game.  Serves them right.

I am proud of myself, though.  Really!  I will do this again on Wednesday.  For now, I’m going to take some ibuprofen and go to bed.