Mile after Mile - A True Story About One's Journey With Running

[Grungenoreos]

First, let me tell you my background in running. I never was much of a runner growing up. Before the 8th grade I was homeschooled on and off and didn't complete an actual mile or ever even stepped foot on a track until I was 13. Oh the sheer horror! I don't even have to tell you how badly out of shape I was or how I really lacked any good definition anywhere on my body but was flat and thin all over because it is obvious.

My first time running a mile, I started out way too fast and didn't even get past one lap before I felt the need to vomit. Well the vomit never came, but I sure felt extremely awful. By the end of that school year I was in the top 20, having scored a 9 sharp minute mile amongst other things I did decently (average ish).

I always hated the mile. In fact, don't get me started on sprinting. I was even more worse at that. But the mile I hated because it always seemed too long and I would always end up with a side stitch and dizzyness. I breathed too hard, often due to my anxiety but mainly because I simply wasn't in shape. At 16 I was going to a private school and their pe program/course sucked ***. They didn't have the money nor the room for most things. But they mainly didn't want to find the time because if they really cared they could have had a better pe class. Even the pe teacher wasn't in shape at all which doesn't come as a surprise.

Last winter at my current school we had to resort to using the gym every single school day because of the cold and we did very well, I might add. Very well. Often times our work outs were almost equivalent to a mile or equivalent to a mile. So the private school I went to last year just didn't really care too much about pe, or at least that is what I like to believe.

Now you might begin to wonder, why am I telling you all this? Well here is the thing, I want to share my journey of running and well, naturally I wanted to enlighten you about my background concerning athletics.

Never experiencing a great pe course since 8th grade, I had a lot coming for me when I transferred in the middle of winter-last Janurary- to a new high school. We didn't do much running or ever went outside due to the weather and the class being earlier in the day. But like I said most workouts were equivalent to a mile or almost. But that is where I first fell in love with working out-namely push ups and the like.

By the very end of March, we started our new pretests and the mile was one of them. It was an extremely hot and humid day and the heat was suffocating. At the last lap I felt as if I were to vomit. A girl who was competing with me was in front of me the whole time by quite a distance until I caught up with her.

"What lap are you on?" she asked me.

"The last one" I responded.

"So am I," she breathed.

"I feel like I am about to throw up," I commented through deep, uneven breaths.

"Then stop running," she replied.

Knowing what she was trying to do, I merely slowed down for a little bit and then sprinted the last 15 seconds or so.

This was merely a pretest. A test we hope to beat for the final test. Before this test I last ran a mile nearly 11 months before this pretest. And I beat that last mile score by 40 seconds.

School is almost out and everyone is trying to make up for missed classes. I went to pe twice yesterday. Our prepartion for the mile largely consisted of merely different sports, lifting weights, cardio machines, HIIT workouts, running a full out mile twice, and running in the gym while completing sets of push ups and sit ups every three laps in the gym at the same corner you are grouped in for 4 sets. Three laps, 15 push ups, 3 laps, 15 sit ups being one rep. Four corners in the gym is equivalent to about a mile, hence the title "Mile After Mile."

Today is a reverse schedule so I attended pe at 7:35 AM (we start early, I know!!). Last night I couldn't fall asleep. All kinds of bad scenarios were playing in my mind. I was very nervous and my stomache was in knots. I drank a full glass of water and did some reading to calm down my nerves but I was still awake at 11:00 PM.

Waking up at 6:30 my stomach was in even more knots then the night before. I was incredibly nervous about beating my mile time. I was hoping it would be under 8 at the very least. I was so nervous I didn't want to eat. I just ate what I could for some fuel: a little bit of oatmeal, a banana, and a few orange fruit segments with a tall glass of water. I said a little prayer as well and tried putting my mind off the whole thing by paying attention around me in class, laughing and talking with others.

By the time we were about to start, I calmed down quite a bit but I was still nervous. I kept trying to remind myself it is okay and that it shouldn't be hard with all my efforts.

Upon starting the mile I was much calmer. Two friends and I started out in front. We were the three people in the front. I tried keeping up with them but then decided not to because I knew starting out too fast was a bad idea. I aimed to also try and support others in the mile by telling them "you can do it," and so forth.

I finished the first lap in approximately 1:38. Three minutes 42 seconds passed when I finished my second lap. I don't remember the times called out after that but I experienced no pain, dizzyness, or any stitches. Only thing bothering me was my uneven breathing which I was trying to steady.

Come the last lap, I finished first with a time of 7:20. I didn't know I finished first since I wasn't paying attention on my full out sprint at the very end but I was so surprised and very, very happy. Of course, I am far from the best and I know that! One friend of mine was only 2 seconds behind me and she didn't sprint at the end like I did. But I thought I'd share my journey upon not so much me just me getting into shape but my journey in getting faster in the mile.

I now love to run and the mile doesn't seem painful to bear or very long like it used to be. Exercise truly is the most relaxing part of my day... besides sleeping haha. I used to always get a mile time between 8:59 and 10 before. So this is a great improvement for me, especially to not feel tired, nauseous, or very out of breath afterwards. Knowing I beat my pretest mile time by 58 seconds makes me very happy. I attribute it all to passion, will, hard work, good effort, practice, having an athlete and soldier of a father, change of eating habits for the better, and increase in calorie take. Again, I know I am not the best or even close to it.

Shout out to everyone else who is working on your goals.One of mine is getting in better shape and beating my records to the best of my ability, as you can tell

If I can do it so can you. Share your running story with me 💜😊 Please do. Don't be shy.

#fitnessfreak #fit

Note: This is in support to all the other runners on here and all over the place.

[vekin]

I like running a lot. Just like you i firstly started because it was part of sport lessons at school and later i liked cycling much more but now i really love running