The Limit Does Not Exist

Five points for Gryffindor if you got the Mean Girls reference in today’s title.  Another fact you should know about me, I’m a HP, MG, PP (Pitch Perfect!) freak and will work them, and other movie lines, into everyday life as much as possible.  My good friend, Tracey, once said that I quote movies and TV shows like a dude.  I took it as a compliment!  OMG another little fact you should know about me that completely blew Tracey away upon first witnessing is that I can word-for-word rap the entire Ludacris portion of the song Yeah by Usher.  I’m so proud of this little nugget that I made this factoid the headline on my Match.com profile.  You’re welcome, single boys of Gainesville! 

Okay, back to limits.  Today while at the gym I learned a very valuable lesson about limits.  Not the mathematical kind that Cady Heron needed help with but the kind in your mental and physical capacities.  Earlier this week after leg day, I had this burst of energy and wanted to run.  A few statements need to be made before this story begins.  1.  I loathe running.  2.  Running loathes me.  I’ve never been a runner.  In elementary school when they made you run a mile in P.E., my friends and I would never finish before class time ran out because we would walk and talk the entire time.  I’m awkward and don’t know how to breathe and I can’t make it very far without stopping.  Because of our mutual hatred, I haven’t been on a treadmill over 3.7 mph in months.  My workouts consist of spin class 2 times a week, core day, leg/butt day and arm/back/chest day.  I don’t even warm up on the treadmill anymore and usually stick to the elliptical or bike.  So after my leg workout, with Miley Cyrus blaring in my ‘buds, I decided to hop on the treadmill.  I kept waiting for my body to give out and collapse into a sweaty, crumpled mess on the floor but it didn’t.  I made it 6 minutes and about half a mile.  I was up to 5.5 mph and a 1% incline.  I was DAMN proud of myself.  I couldn’t believe it!  While this may not be a huge accomplishment to many please keep in mind that 7 months ago I thought running 1 minute without stopping was a HUGE deal.  This was 6 times that! 

Today, I was once again feeling the need for runner’s high and I stepped on the treadmill after arms.  Are you sitting down?  I RAN AN ENTIRE MILE IN 11 MINUTES AND DIDN’T STOP ONCE.  What?!  I basically high-fived myself as my Jell-O legs hopped off.  Here’s the thing about limits, you don’t know what yours are until you push them.  You have to see how far your body can go and (here’s the tricky part) you can’t let your mind convince you that you can’t do it.  When I only ran 6 minutes the other day it was because my brain was all like, “You can probably only make it half a mile.  You should totally stop at half a mile so you don’t overdo it.  There’s no way you can go further than that because you’re not a runner.”  Take that, brain!  The biggest obstacle holding you back from achievement is yourself.  Shut your brain off, turn up Turn Down For What and just run. 

I will say this to any of you who don’t like running, don’t press the issue.  Start by doing something you do like- spin, Zumba, water aerobics, etc.-and use those to build up your endurance.  Endurance is what will help you run for longer and give you time to focus on your form and breath.  The longer you run the more you will enjoy it.  Also, when you finish make sure you stretch, stretch, stretch.  I did and still felt my calves cramping on the walk to the car.  Next week I’m shooting for 1.5 miles.  I’ll keep you posted on my progress!

“From that day on if I was ever going somewhere, I was running!”