It was recently explained to me that running is a great way to build up stamina, which would help my sparring. Jumping rope was another option but I quickly determined that I lack the timing and coordination for that, so running is pretty much my only option. My wife is a runner (although she still won’t admit it) and so is my roommate. I guess it was only a matter of time before they got me out on the trail for a run. The plan was simple: a Sunday afternoon four mile run along the Mt Vernon Trail, with a number of stops at strength training stations along the way. I’m pretty sure nobody thought I would survive this – including myself, but I decided to give it a whirl anyways.
We started the run at one of the mile markers along the trail, but not 1/4 miles into the run we came upon our first strength training station. This one was one-legged squats and once I knocked that out it was back to the trail. Of course by the time I got my pace set it we arrived at the next station which was sit-ups. Again, this was not a problem and I knocked these out quickly in order to resume the run. Not 20 steps later came the next station! I start thinking to myself, “Ok, this is getting stupid! How can I get into this run if I have to keep stopping and doing some exercise. This is a four-mile run and if I don’t get on with it I’ll be here all night!”
So I decided to skip the stations and just concentrate on the run. Also, I wanted to try out my new running software “Zombies, Run!” and all this stopping wasn’t working out well. So off I went to complete my four miles.
To make a long (and boring) story short:
- Running 4 miles really wasn’t that hard
- Running is EXTREMELY boring
- “Zombies, Run!” is not all that fun after all
In short: Running sucks.
Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of other options so I’m going to need to find a way to make it more interesting…