Who Knew?

So evidently I'm not the first "wogger." 

Julie and I met this morning for a workout date and breakfast.  I'm borrowing her book, No Need For Speed by John "The Penguin" Bingham, a writer for Running Magazine.  As I was reading, I discovered that he writes about "wogging."  Dang it.  Not as an original thinker as I thought. 

He's a very inspirational guy, and he really makes one feel better about being a "wogger."  He combines waddling and jogging to get wogging, in fact. 

He started running several years ago after deciding that he could no longer live a life of inactivity.  He began slowly and advocates that slow is perfectly fine...as long as you are moving.  This has been my philosophy from Day 1.  I believe The Penguin and I would get along swimmingly. 

He's helped me think through some things today as I read.  I've felt a bit discouraged lately.  Running just isn't happening for me.  I can walk like the wind, baby.  But running just does me in if I try to go for more than a minute or so at a time.  It worries me a little bit. 

My workouts are still very satisfying.  My pace is still pretty quick, and I know that my workouts are doing me good.  But I still would really like to run more. 

So as I read, I found new inspiration.  A new plan.  I really do like the activity part.  And that in itself is a little miracle, honestly.  I've never been what you would call a fan of exercise of any kind.  But I actually miss it when I don't get to do a workout.  Now, the feeling is still pretty fleeting, but--it's there.  That's BIG, y'all. 

Tomorrow begins the new plan.  I may be even slower than before for a little while.  But I'm going to get there.  I'm not sure why I'm so slow.  But what I do know is that for the first time I have found an athletic endeavor that I don't want to quit...even when it's really hard. 

I like the way it feels when I get in the groove...even though it's only a really fast walk right now. I  like the way it feels when I finish....especially on the days when I didn't really want to get out there at first.  I like the way I feel for hours afterward...all bright eyed and bushy-tailed, full of energy. 

It would be easy to quit.  It's not going the way I want it to and/or the way I thought it would by now. I'm not doing as well as my friends are.  Everything in my history points to me quitting and acting like it was running's fault that this relationship didn't work out...not mine.  But I'm staying put and working it out. 

Huh.  Who knew?