Running Is Hard

As part of my half-marathon training I ran five miles today.  I've never run that far in my life.  OK, so I did slow down to a quick walk a couple of times, but I finished in 56 minutes which was my goal.  I ran on a treadmill, which is excruciatingly boring.  With nothing to look at but a 17 inch TV that was 25 feet away, it was quite easy to focus on just how much my legs were hurting.  I'm supposed to run eight miles on Saturday, so I need to find an outdoor place to run.  I can't believe how much harder it is to run, now compared to when I was 20.  The 25 extra pounds I'm carrying these days is very apparent with each stride.  My knees hurt so bad I have to take a couple Motrin before bed after every run.  As much as I hurt and as boring as an hour of running in place was, I did feel a great deal of satisfaction at the end.  And at least I know my training is going better than this guy's.

Let's hope I can make it to eight miles on Saturday.