I did it!

I managed to go out for my first run despite a feeble attempt at getting out of it. I managed to buy the shoes, so that wasn't my excuse. My excuse was even better (in my mind) than that. This week I am supposed to run one minute and walk two minutes, alternate that 7 times, and call it a day. Simple. Except that I don't own a watch and could not time myself.

I was proud of my excuse, and the following text chat ensued while I was on the GO Train:
me: not making it out tonight. I don't have a watch that works. I do have new shoes though. I hate them, they are ugly, but apparently they will help me pronate or something.
Taunya: You can run for 100 steps and walk for 200 steps. Repeat 7 times.
me: Ok. But what if I lose count?
Taunya: (Sigh) then start at 1 if you are running or 199 if you are walking.
me: I was only kidding.
Taunya: I know. I just wasn't going to give you any way out.

Taunya and I have been friends since we worked together at an office back in 1994. She and I had many adventures which will be talked about some other day. Taunya learned very quickly how to manipulate me to get me to do things. It was her work avoidance technique. She would say something, I would do all the work, and she would sit at the desk with her feet up singing Garth Brooks songs all day. Ok, well, it didn't QUITE happen like that.

She is, however, an excellent motivator. I believe that one of my text messages that occurred a bit later in the conversation resulted me in nicknaming her "The Evil Motivator". But she got me to go out. And I also realise that there will be very few excuses for me to back out of The Resolution Run, so it is in my best interests to keep this up.

So I got home, changed my clothes, and went out for my first run. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be (ok, I DID use my fingers to count, but I was concentrating on breathing and running, and dodging pets) and I didn't experience any lung burn afterwords. Tomorrow I get to rest. Although I will cherish days like tomorrow, I actually am looking forward to going out again on Wednesday.