Steph: My Hamster Wheel

At least once a week, I run with my husband at the downtown Y. (When I can't hook up with my running buddies.) It is very close to our house and as the weather gets colder and colder, it conveniently has an indoor hanging track.

But...the track hangs above the small gym in an ancient downtown building which means that you have to run around the track 26 times to equal a mile. That is correct. I said 26 times. Until this week, it has not been a big deal. I have been measuring my running in seconds and minutes NOT mileage. This week, I bumped myself up to level 4 on the "Couch to 5k" program. That means that I start looking at mileage.

I successfully ran 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, 1/4 mile, and 1/2 mile intervals on Monday with walking in between. That means I successfully ran 1 and 1/2 miles. If you had told me that this was going to happen when I started 6 weeks ago, I would have laughed in your face. I am not a runner. I can't even run one lap around the track. Yeah right that I will ever run a mile, let alone a 5k. But, as Jill so nicely puts it, I am a sucker for peer pressure and when my friends decided to do this, I was dragged along kicking and screaming.

So, back to the hamster wheel. This is what it looks like to do my current intervals at the mini track. Walk 10 laps, Run 6.5 laps, walk 3.5 laps, run 13 laps, walk 4 laps, run 6.5 laps, walk 3.5 laps, run 13 laps, walk 4 laps. FINISHED!!!!! Yes, it is that ridiculous, and Thank God that both my husband and I were counting because at some point we both lost track. But I kind of liked it. It gave me mini goals that I could accomplish like "I already ran 4 laps, I am 1/3 way there" or "now I have hit 10 laps, 3 more sounds easy."

So I am O.K. with my hamster wheel even though it feels like ...

And while looking for this picture, I found that there are REAL human-sized hamster wheels. Who knew??