Pants on the Ground

I had an interesting experience at the Hamster Wheel today.  I had been complaining to Mike for about a month that I couldn't wear my favorite gym pants for my faster runs anymore because I kept having to hike them back up.  Well, today I was at the gym for a resistance workout, which includes a 1 1/2 mile running warmup at a pretty easy speed.  And, I realized today that I am going to have to retire my favorite pants.  I was hiking them up so much it was interfering with my run.  So, while I am sad to be losing my favorite pants (*cry*), I am ecstatic for a shopping trip to find new ones!!!  BUT, while I was pulling up my pants at the gym, I started to realize just how far I've come in such a short time...

From January 1 to August 17
1.  Weight Lost: 4 pounds
2.  Body Fat Percentage Lost: 0.3 percentage points
3.  Pants Size: About the same if not a little bigger
4.  Furthest Distance Run: 1 mile on a treadmill seven years ago
5.  Average Pace of a Mile: slow...I couldn't even hazard a guess

From August 17 to October 9
1.  Weight Lost: 10 pounds (14 total)
2.  Body Fat Percentage Lost: 1 point (1.3 total)
3.  Pants Size: About the same
4.  Furthest Distance Run: no change
5.  Average Pace of a Mile: no real change

From October 9 to now
1.  Weight Lost: 9.5 pounds (23.5 total)
2.  Body Fat Percentage Lost: 4 points (5.3 total)
3.  Pants Size: Lost two sizes, almost down another one
4.  Furthest Distance Run: 5.33 miles
5.  Average Pace of a Mile: from 16:06 the first week to 13:27 this week

While I am super excited that my pants were falling down (haha!), it belies the fact that I am getting so much more in shape and really enjoying myself.  Mostly, I am really happy at the fact that I am getting faster and being able to go so much further on each run.  After my not so fun injury recovery, I was able to come back stronger than before and set four PRs in my first three runs...besting PRs for the one, two, three, and four mile times.  And I personally expect to best both my five and six mile times on Monday on my longest long run yet.  To give you all an idea, I have taken 3 full minutes off my mile since the end of October, 2 1/4 minutes off my 2 mile time, almost 3 minutes off my 3 mile, almost 5 minutes off my 4 mile, and a full 14 minutes off the 5 mile time.  Plus, all of those were running!!

Before October, I had run one mile in my entire life.  This month, I not only ran over 5 but ran for a continuous 75 minutes.  Some very dear friends said to me in August that I could go further than I thought I could and that my mind would give up before my body needed to.  Others told me that running would hurt my knees and that I shouldn't push myself so hard because that would lead to injury.  And one person who has become a very good friend said to start slower than I usually did and breathe deep and steady from the first step.  And that was the very best advice of all.  Not just a "you can do it" or a "don't hurt yourself" but a "here's how...and I believe in you" that started it all.  I'm starting to believe that the six miles I will run on Monday is just the tip of the iceberg.....