On the Open Road

About two years ago, I started to seriously try to lose weight.  I was overweight and really in a bad place health wise.  I realized that if I didn’t change some things, I might very well be in the same spot my father-in-law was in—open heart surgery, a severe stroke and having to have someone take care of me day and night because I wasn’t able to take care of myself.  

I had been going to the gym for several years before this and I hadn’t really been making any gains. We started a “Biggest Looser” type contest at work and I got serious about it.  At the same time my wife, Laura, started Weight Watchers.  I started listening to what she was bringing home from her meetings and began to track my points and really try to learn about nutrition and the food I was putting in my body.   At the end of 2011, I had lost 90 pounds and was a new person.  I changed gyms and really started focusing on getting healthy and not just weight loss. 

I set myself a new goal in January of 2012—I was going to run a 5K in the spring or summer.  Every other weekend after that, I was in the gym running a 5K,  and three days a week I was running two miles on a treadmill.  I was pumped!  I was knocking back the miles with a steady heart rate and feeling good! 

Today I woke up and realized that a trip to the gym would not work in our schedule, so I decided to do something I had been thinking about for awhile…running on the road.  So I set off on my run to the Community Park and back.  I learned some things about road running that I never expected while running on my nice, comfy treadmill at the gym.  I’d like to share them with you: 

The road does not bounce.  Ever notice how the treadmill gives just a little bit when your foot comes down?  Not a whole lot, just enough bounce to make you feel like you are hurtling through space.  After a block or two, I realized this pavement wasn’t given me that same feeling.  In fact, it wasn’t helping me at all and I think it may have been fighting me…I’m not sure but I think it was resisting every step I was taking.

Dogs are everywhere.  I had no idea the number of dogs that are in my neighborhood.  The nice friendly greetings from the neighbor’s pooch as you’re driving comfortably down the road are quite different when you are running in front of their house.  They all sound like Cujo.  I swear that I head the heavy breathing of a rabid St. Bernard bounding down on me.   On second thought, maybe that was my breathing I heard. 

Road kill.  As disgusting as road kill looks from your driver seat, it is about 100 times worse when your foot lands right next to that dead possum’s eye.  It wouldn’t have been so bad if the eye hadn’t been hanging out of it socket staring at me as I ran by.  I will be seeing the eyeball in my dreams tonight, I just know it.

Wind.  What starts out as a nice, cool breeze at your back soon turns into a wall of total resistance when you turn the corner.  Remember when you were a kid and your dad or your uncle would be standing there and you would run towards them?  While you were running towards them, they would put the palm of their hand right on your forehead.  No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t get any closer to them?  That’s what I learned running into the wind is like.  I turned the corner and it felt like those 90 pounds I lost last year had came back all at once! S-L-O-W-M-O-T-I-O-N! 

Cars.  Thirty five miles per hour doesn’t seem very fast at all when you are behind the wheel of a car.  When you are running on the side of the road and a car blows past you at 35, it scares the water right out of you.  Who knew cars in Franklin where all stealth cars?  I never heard one sneaking up behind me!  It’s like they tip toed until they got close to me and then just gunned it!  The only one I heard was the old farm truck that sounded like someone had poured marbles down its manifold.   I heard that truck rumbling and I went all cross country, like I was John Rambo or something.  It was awesome.

Time.  Time has no meaning to those not running.  I staggered charged triumphantly into the house and my adoring, supportive wife says “that didn’t take long.”  Between gasping for breaths and trying to determine if I should just collapse on the floor or aim for the couch, I told her “I (gasp) ran (gasp) to (gasp) the park (gasp, gasp) and back.”  Twenty five minutes on the treadmill goes by pretty fast…25 minutes on the open road is FOREVER.

Old People.  Don’t get me wrong, I love senior citizens.  I think they deserve and are entitled to respect and honor.  They don’t understand that when you are running past their beauty parlor on a Saturday morning with sweat streaming down your face, you’re not really going to stop and talk about the weather.  So, the sweet Grandma, that said “Good morning, beautiful day for a walk,” Yes, it is a beautiful day, but if it comes to breathing or talking, I’m going to choose breathing every time.  Thanks anyway and please forgive my rudeness. 

I learned a lot this morning.  Am I ready to face a 5K on the open road?  Probably not, but you know what?  I ran this morning.  Two years ago, I’d still be on the couch trying to figure out why I was still fat.  I made a choice to change my life and I did it.  What do you need to choose to change today?