Maybe this bird CAN change?

If you look at my track record so far (get it, track record?), you'll see that I am a weekend slacker. I'd much rather chill in my jammies on Sunday then do a training day.

Today was different. I didn't do my 2.25 miles on Saturday (cuz I'm lazy!) and decided, what the hell? Let's do it today!

Once the laundry was done, I changed and hopped onto the treadmill. I put In the Kitchen with David on the TV (muted) and popped in my earbuds and off I went. I like having something visual in front of me that doesn't need to be heard (cooking shows and Man v Food also work, go figure...) to zone out to while I walk.

I did a 60-second burst here and there. A 90-second burst to one song.  I got bored and began shuffling through the tunes. I got to Freebird. Yes, Freebird is on my MP3 player. I'm cool like that.  I decided that I would run during that climax part. That is the part after he stops singing and goes for about 4 minutes with the bum Bum, Bum BUMs in the background and the heavy guitar work until it is so hard and so fast it bursts through and begins to flow again (Yes, get over it - I completely sexualized one of the greatest rock songs ever.) Anyway, it's been a while since I heard Freebird and I thought that part was about 2 minutes.  At the 90-second mark, I'm all "good job, almost done" but it kept going.  At 2 minutes, I'm beginning to freak out but became determined to make it.  At 3 minutes, I was cussing the bastard who thought that this part needed to be so freaking long, but by the time I reached the end, I was almost in freakin' tears.  I could not believe that I had pushed myself that hard (I was running at about 4.2mph) for that long.  Remember, this is Smokey McGee over here, she of the Smoker's Lungs. Stairs kick my ass.

As I put the treadmill back down to about 2mph so that I could catch my breath, not puke and not pass out, I said some pretty choice cuss words, but my favorite phrase was "Holy FUCK, who the hell thought I could fuckin' pull THAT out of my fat ass???" (Sorry mom - but I got my salty vocab from dad, there.)

I finished my 2.25 miles and continued to 2.5, just for the hell of it. I was done in 50 minutes. Still not near the 4-minute mile I need to qualify for the PHM, but still pretty damn good!  I shut the treadmill down, changed and made a promise to myself. In the next 6 weeks (since I"m 6 weeks into this training thing so far), I'm gonna run that entire song. All 9 minutes of it. I might puke or pass out after THAT one, but I will have done it.