antiprincess

I have a new passion. If you've talked to me in the past week or so, you know, because I can't help but blather on about it. And so you can understand how excited I am about my new pursuit: I am looking forward to waking up early tomorrow. Me. Okay with waking up. Early. On a Saturday. And I'm not even getting paid to do it! Do you even understand how antithetical these concepts are? I adore my sleep. I crave it. To say that I'm a grumpy puppy in the morning would be a drastic understatement. But here I am, looking forward to being up bright and early tomorrow morning.

And the reason I am so excited to be up tomorrow morning is that Tony and I will be going running with the Fat Boys (the Fat Boys being the running group Tony and his dad have ran with for years). I know, I know, some of you think you have the wrong blog at this point. Waking up early and running?!?!! Who is this crazy person and what have they done with Tiffany? But I assure you, you're in the right place. I, Tiffany, have become moderately obessesed with fitness, running in particular. I'm not good at it, and stand no chance at an sort of comparative impressive showing at the races I'll be participating in in the next few months, but the personal thrill is exhilarating. I remember 2.5 years ago, jogging a mile and then spending the next 20 minutes on the couch, certain I was having an asthma attack. Compared to last Saturday, when I ran a slow but steady 6.67 miles, I feel that I have come a long way. Every step ran further or easier than the last is a tiny victory, and it feels great.

Now I have goals and gadgets (my Nano to hook up to my new Nike+ Sports Kit arrives Monday (hopefully), and I'm way excited about the idea of solid tracking and graphing of my progress), and I feel like I'm well on my way to being able to classify myself as a runner, and the idea thrills me. I've never excelled at a sport, and the possibility of maybe having found one that I can work at is exciting. I'm learning a whole new language of pace and RPE and hill training. I'm acheiving PRs left and right this early in the game. Next Sunday is my first official race that I will run, the Spear-it 5K at the Stockton Asparagus Festival. And I am very much looking forward to beating my very meager goal of finishing the race in less than 30 minutes.

And even better is that this is an interest that Tony shares. More accurately, this was his hobby I have copycatted him on. The idea of running with him was excellent motivation, and he has been so amazingly supportive and my #1 cheerleader. And I know already he must be tired of hearing how far I ran today, or what race I want to do next, but he never waivers, and that is reason #539 why I love him so very much.