I did it!
The weather was nice yesterday, in the high 60s and sunny, but the weather today was cold and cloudy, and it rained or drizzled all day. I was not looking forward to running tonight after work, but I wanted to at least try. My friend put some effort into creating a plan for me to follow, and I believed that she wouldn’t ask me to do something that was beyond me. So as soon as I got off work, I headed to the gym to change. I realized that I had been counting on warmer weather, because I had only packed a short-sleeved t-shirt and shorts. Oh, well, I figured I’d warm up once I got going.
I ran 10 minutes on the elliptical trainer to warm up, then did some weights; upper body stuff. That’s when I realized that I was stalling and headed outside.
From the gym I walked about 6 blocks up to Duniway Park. I started jogging about halfway there. I went halfway around the track at Duniway, then ran up the hill. I just kept a steady but not blazing pace; my goal was to do the whole thing, up and down, at at least a jog.
Past OHSU, past the Veteran’s Hospital… past the stairs where I and my friends had gone to last Monday… I just tried to zone out and not think about what I was doing. I worked out scenes for my next (unwritten) novel in my mind. Even with the clouds and slight rain, the views were great; the city spread out below. It’s a pretty dramatic climb.
Past the VA hospital, it started to go downhill a bit. I kept going, until I reached a playground on the left (downhill) side of the road, with a restroom and water fountain. I stopped to take a quick drink, turned around and headed back. I kept up my steady pace. Once I had reached OHSU again, it dawned on me what I was so close to accomplishing: farther, and steeper, than I had ever gone before.
Yet another milestone for me. With more to come.