Slogging

Ever since MWL and I started to run for exercise, I feel like I have invented a new term, "slogging." As I am running, I am reminded of one of my favorite movies, "Anchorman." In the movie, Ron Burgundy declines to attend his regular pancake breakfast with his friends in order to participate in a new hobby with his girlfriend. The new hobby? Jogging, not sure if it is pronounced with a soft "J." Apparently, you just run.

I never had the mental toughness for running. My parents forced me into track for one year in middle school. After two practices, I developed a case of the shin splints. I was mediocre at long jump, but you were required to participate in another event that involved running. I was put in the mile run. I think I ran one race and collapsed afterward. Thus ended my long distance running career in sports.

When we first started running a couple years ago, it was incredibly hard. I was always running so slow that MWL could beat me walking with no problem. He would sometimes even walk in circles around me to prove how slow I was running. I used to joke on particularly slow runs, I wasn't even jogging, I was really "slogging."

Eventually with the help of several energetic Ipod playlists, I am getting up to speed and starting to love running.

On Sunday a curious thing happened. We started out on our run, and it was drizzling a bit. Two years ago this alone would be an excuse to not run. We went anyway. By about 1/4 way through, it was raining. Then about 1/2 way through, it was all out pouring. Already we felt pretty good since there were only a few "hard core" runners out there, but then we noticed that some of those folks were even stopping. Not us. We were absolutely soaked. Twice I had to dump the water out of my ears, but we kept going. By the end of the run, my shoes were squishing, and I realized that this is really slogging. On the run the next day, it was amazing how much easier it was to run. Once I had the experience of running with heavy, wet shoes, I could run any length with dry shoes.