Jogging

So yesterday, at my prodding, my friend Chelsea and I decided to try to go for a run. Now, Chelsea has been running quite regularly for over 2 years, and I, well, haven't run further than a block (in order to catch a bus) in, well, forever... and after such a run I'm usually all hot and sweaty, and it seems to take a ridiculous amount of time for my heart to slow to a normal rate. Chelsea assured me that running without a backpack, with appropriate shoes, and at a reasonable pace would be easier than my irregular sprinting. But as I started feeling more confident about my own ability, she went on to mention that after her first few attempts at running, she wanted to die.

Still, we put on motivating music, and I psyched myself by deciding what to wear: Ouareau sweatshirt, jogging pants (that's actually what they are supposed to be for!!), runners I've owned since high school (which, by the way, according to Chelsea and my aunt, are not appropriate footwear for running), a flashy headband, and my construction-worker's vest my mom got me at Christmas (you know, those yellow and orange vests that they wear on the side of the road?). And out we went.

The first difficulty arose when I was too self-conscious to start running, which made me laugh. After a few minutes of giggling (just enough time so that I was already out of breath), I was finally ready to set out. The actual running wasn't as bad as I'd feared it might be, and I think that we were out for about 30 minutes (about half of which was spent with me walking, trying to breathe, and Chelsea running on the spot humming, annoying un-winded). While running my legs were fine, the pain I felt seemed to emanate from my right shoulder, and eased it's way into my neck and down my back. It wasn't until after we had returned that I realized that my legs were tired... but then all of a sudden I was exhausted. I survived the next 2 hours by supreme force of mind, and then fell into bed and passed out at the respectable hour of 10pm on a Friday.

I hope that I will drege up the courage to go run again (the pain in my legs is still bad enough for me to think this was all a crazy dream). And I wonder what sort of hidden meaning I can find to explain my strange right shoulder pain. But still... I don't want to die, so I guess this whole outing was a success!!