About Me

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Erika Owes Me Some Shoes

This entire running thing is all thanks to (or could be blamed upon) Erika Olson (for those who don't know, Erika is my former teammate).

At my 23rd birthday (2009), Erika talked about how she was training for a marathon. I thought she was insane and was somewhat afraid she might die, but I was also secretly jealous of how much she probably got to eat.

I had been trying to run myself some, but I never really “got” running. It wasn’t a game, no one won…I had no clue how so many people found this “fun.” I also could not wrap my head around how I could play a 3-hour tennis match easily, but couldn’t run for more than 30 min without wanting to shoot myself. And that made me really frustrated. I chalked it up to the fact that I just wasn’t “made” to run so I should probably stop trying (which is what I did for the first 23 years of my life).

About two weeks later, I texted Erika to ask her how she could possibly like running. She told me she made it social and suggested I come run with her on Friday after work. I agreed, figuring it would be, like, 2 miles since she told me she “couldn’t run too far because she had her long run the next day.” She then suggested we do this “little loop that John and I do, its about 5 miles.” I told her she was freaking nuts and I could not run 5 miles without needing an ambulance. Somehow she got me to go run with her…and I made it! I ran 5 miles WITHOUT STOPPING!

Needless to say, we ran super slow but I had run the farthest I ever had in my entire life WITHOUT STOPPING. I’m pretty sure I told everyone I knew (and didn’t really know) that day that I ran 5 miles.

Erika and I continued what I called the “Friday trots.” And, I was motivated to run on other days so I could make it through that 5 mile run with Erika each Friday (seriously). I can’t tell you how many runs Erika had to coach me through where I was SURE I was “going to die.” [cue Erika saying “just focus on Chelsea Piers, the golf nets, smooth to the finish” and cue me asking how much further we had to go and if we could stop for a hot sec]. To her credit, she was much faster and in much better shape than I, yet, she never once complained about me being super slow or whining or needing to “take a break for a sec.”

Erika also invited me to this “running club” started by a mutual friend, Stacy (another NYU-er). I was pretty reticent because anything that was a running “club” sounded like it was for “runners,” and I definitely did NOT put myself in that category. Plus, I didn’t want to finish last/have everyone wait on me. I finally went sometime in May. And I’m pretty sure I did finish last (and still do a lot). But no one cared and they actually all cheered for me when I finished. I couldn’t believe how supportive a group of people could be for someone they barely knew (and who clearly sucked really badly).

In June, I was convinced to sign up for a 10K. Note to others: you should know how far a race is before signing up for it. When I found out a 10K was 6.2 miles, I immediately freaked because, obviously, I had never run farther than the 5 mile Friday trots. Luckily for me, two sweet people (Claudina, Alanna) from that “running club” were just there to run it for fun and ran the whole thing with me. After I finished that race, I was pretty hooked .

That was 2009.

I also can’t forget to mention my two med school running buddies, Jess and Courtney, who also put up with way more whining than they should have (old habits die hard).

Its now 2011 and I’m happy to say Erika and I still Friday trot (not every Friday, but still a good bit) and now Katie (another teammate) joins us (she was injured in '09). [Basically NYU tennis has turned into a post-collegiate NYC running mob.] And, I definitely still go to that running club.

Katie, Me, Erika, Stacy
All Proud Products of NYU Athletics Golden Era

So, thanks, Erika. I’m a little sad that my story didn’t get turned into an essay for some applications you had recently, but at least it made it into the blog world, right?

[And if you're wondering why Erika owes me some shoes, its because if I hadn't started running, I wouldn't have needed all these shoes. Er I wear size 8, Lunarglides. ;) ]

1 comment:

  1. "I was also secretly jealous about how much she probably got to to eat." Hahaha love it! Of course, I run to destress and for the feeling of accomplishment...but also so that I can eat copious amounts of Blue Bell without a second thought. :)

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