Working Towards a Resolution

Now that I'm back at home, I've been so busy playing good housewife that I've told J to refer to me as Dobby, the house elf, after the character in the Harry Potter novels. I'm definitely short enough, even though my ears aren't nearly as large nor my eyes sufficiently protuberant, and I can see the appeal in wearing something as comfortable as a toga fashioned out of a pillowcase. So long as it's high thread count Egyptian cotton, of course. And a tea cosy for a hat to top it off sounds fabulous.

In any case, the dishes are washed, the house is tidied, and J comes home to a healthy home-cooked meal every night. But, what do you do when all your chores are done and all your friends are at work?

Oh yeah, work on those pesky little New Years' resolutions. Which means getting back to fighting weight. Emphasis on the fighting. I have no desire to get ultra-skinny and fit into tiny clothes. I'd much rather be fast and strong, kind of like a monkey. Which means lots of running and lifting weights. Damn.

As one of my Christmas presents, J gave me a copy of the book "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall, which is largely about the Tarahamuru Indians in Mexico who are amazing natural runners and quite regularly cover over a hundred miles a day. The book is an easy read, even if it is a bit too bombastic for my taste, and I felt inspired reading about these runners who just kind of pick up and run for the love of it. One of the premises of the book is that humans should run because that's what we were made to do. Another premise is that the athletic shoe industry is a sham, and we'll all be better off running barefoot.

I've been running regularly for about four years now, and I'm not sure how much I buy into the whole running barefoot thing. I heard about this phenomenon a while ago, and J bought me a pair of Vibram Five Fingers for Christmas '09, which are these rubbery slipper-type shoes. I use them when I do mat work or weightlifting indoors, but I haven't yet tried them out for running outdoors. For one, I'm sure they'd attract a fair bit of attention. And two, I once saw a guy wearing them at the airport, and I hadn't realized until that moment how strange they look on your feet.

In any case, after I read the book, I felt like it'd be an easy job to just head outside and run about fifty miles or so. Seriously, he made it seem so easy that the book really should come with a warning: Do not try this at home. Ever.

J and I had taken a protracted break from running since I started working, and we went out for our first run in a while a few days ago, and it was haaard. I actually had to take a walking break after 1.5 miles for a breather, and we wrapped up the run after about 3 miles. I'm heading out again tomorrow, and I'm hoping to log at least 4 miles since I'll be alone, and J can't accuse me of trying to kill him with jogging. Fingers crossed that it doesn't rain tomorrow or I'll be knee deep in mud.