I hurt. But I did run 2 miles.

Now is when it gets tough.

I went to the gym with Mario on Sunday and he worked me. Hard. And sweaty. All sexual innuendo aside, I knew I'd be sore and I was absolutely correct.

Monday was my day off and I was happy to take it. I wasn't hurting too badly, perhaps because of the Tylenol I rocked in the morning, perhaps because of the caffeine I was drinking while filing papers at work, or maybe just because I wasn't really using those muscles. Taking a day off was nice but I was slightly terrified that'd be the end for me.

It wasn't. The next morning I was awake at 6:50, trying out the morning as a new time to try to fit in a run. What a great idea, I thought! I've always been a morning person, and this way I'll still have the flexibility to do whatever I need/want at the end of the day. Mom tells me exercising is supposed to wake you up anyhow, so this'll be great.

How wrong can a person be?

The run itself was fine. I made it all the way up the hill this time, though I did have to walk a bit once I reached the top (more on that later). it was the aftermath that amazed me. I got home and did my normal stretch routine...and as it was happening, I was falling asleep. I was in my bedroom, and all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed and sleep for the rest of the day. Part of me was worried - I've never felt this way in the morning before! As I stumbled toward the shower I consoled myself thinking this feeling had to pass, all I needed was a shower and some coffee and I'd feel just like I normally do in the mornings.

The feeling continued, past the shower, all the way to me eating my cereal in front of the TV. Just that awful fog all around my head. I was a little dizzy, couldn't finish my breakfast because of my nausea, an contemplated whether or not it would be safe for me to drive. Tylenol did not make it better. I made it through the day, but needless to say, I will not be running in the morning any time soon. This will of course make my dedication to the training all the more difficult, but we'll see how it goes.

Today was a banner day for soreness. I cannot fully move my arms and I'm beginning to think I may have done some serious damage. That's probably the neurotic Jew in me but a man can worry can't he? But despite the pain in my upper body, my legs feel surprisingly fine; so fine that I decided today was a great day to up the ante a little and run two miles.

I don't want to deal with hills anymore - they're giving me an unfair picture of my actual health/readiness. The fact is I can run a mile just fine, and in fact could probably run more, but you wouldn't know that by seeing me after I run up Havenhurst. So today I planned a different route. Running to my new gym and back is just over two miles, so I wanted to try that. Turns out, hills don't go away. They disguise themselves. The whole run to the gym was fine, but as we turned around I suddenly had a sinking feeling in my stomach as I saw just how far UP I had to run along with just the lateral part...why???

My hammies are killing me. I am limping around my apartment because my right leg hurts so much when I walk. But I finished those friggin two miles.

So just to keep score:
-I can't walk
-I can't hold a phone to my ear
-I can barely put a shirt on
-I am planning on running another 2 miles tomorrow before my rest day on Friday.

I'm still wondering if this whole lifestyle choice is going to work out for me. But I'll be damned if I'm not trying.