Having a horrible week

            On Monday and this morning, I was really not looking forward to running. I also was not looking forward to writing about it. It’s been just terrible.

            I had a difficult run last Monday and was ill the rest of the week. So, Monday’s trip to the gym was breaking a week long hiatus. Normally, I run before going into work, but I went into the office early so I had to run afterward. I was on a time crunch because I was meeting some friends at Buffalo Wild Wings (don’t judge me) to watch some Monday Night Football.

            Being at the gym at six p.m. on a Monday is out of the ordinary for me, so I was unprepared when I pulled into the gym parking lot and it was full. I mean really full. There were people parked illegally and everything. Wow, all these people ordered pizza last night too? And feel extremely guilty? No, that was just me. Damn. I was forced to join the stream of cars that were zigzagging through the lot, waiting for a spot to open up. This is really annoying when you drive a rather large quad cab truck. Not only do you have to be picky about your spots, but people like to drive their little hippie sedans in the middle of the freaking parking lot lane.

After about five agonizing minutes of circling around and getting nowhere, I did something I normally hate to do; I stalked people who were walking out of the gym. Every time I do that, the theme from Jaws plays in my head as I ride my brake watching these people act like they don’t see me. They mentally give me the finger as they slowly shuffle their way down the middle of the parking lane were some car way smaller than mine is also waiting for a spot. I also am reminded of my childhood years of shopping in Sioux City with my mother. There was one mall that everyone in a fifty mile radius went to, and it was always packed. My mom always prided herself on finding a good parking spot, and patiently circled the lot until she found a spot that was a maximum five spots from the door. When it looks like she was getting her wish, she would start making sounds. “OH OH OH! LOOK AT THAT! I’m just going to pull into this spot right here. See this? Just. Like. This.” She shifts the car into park and looks at me. “Ha ha ha, looks like we were meant to be here,” she would say every time, no matter how long achieving this spot took. This skill served her well when her knees started giving out and she had to get knee surgery.

Well, I don’t have my mom’s patience or bad knees (yet) so I never carry through on the stalking. I get too uncomfortable and irritated. For this reason, it takes me about 12 minutes to get a spot, but it was a good one. Guess I was meant to be there.

The gym was as busy as the parking lot. I was lucky to get a treadmill. Well, lucky wasn’t really the word. I was completely dragging ass through my run. I tried to pick up where I failed the week previous, with intervals ranging from quarter to half miles. My whole body hurt and I could barely make it through a quarter mile. I don’t know if it’s a mental shift from time to distance, or if my body isn’t well. I think it’s probably the entire week I sat on my ass and did nothing. I didn’t think a week would set me back that much, but it obviously did.

Throughout the twenty minutes I would normally stride through intervals, I kept running, stopping, and making deals with myself on how far I should attempt to run. The guy next to me was doing a similar thing, only in sprint form. He hopped on and jacked up his speed so that I was tempted to look. 9.0 m.p.h. Damn. He would run for a respectable amount of time, then jump to the sides and stretch while he catches his breath. Sprint, then catch breath. Sprint, then catch breath. I am starting to doubt his muscles are that tight. Just slow down buddy.

I hope he was not paying as much attention to me, because it was jog, cuss, walk. Jog, cuss, walk. Jog, cuss, hit the big fat quitter button and stalk off. Come back, jog, cuss, then walk and shake my head at my failure. I also did a lot of head shaking when I watch the Redskins get slaughtered later that night.

This morning was much of the same. I feel like I can’t even reach my three minutes I did before. I am upset and unsure what to do. Do I go back a week, or struggle through the week I’m on? I tried just running as much as I could through my last ten minutes today, but it felt unstructured and non-productive.

All I can do is keep trying.