The story of my first 20 minute run - or seriously if I can run, most people can run

It was a saturday morning, during the spring. I was wearing my best pair of brown old woman sweat pants and an oversized orange long sleeved t-shirt. My shoes were the fancy $20 kind from the local Big-5 sports store. My hair was tied back in a sexy ponytail with a regular rubber-band.  I tied my shoes and despite looking like I was needing to get back to the mental hospital, I went outside anyway.

I live very close to the sound, I am eight blocks away from the ship canal and four miles away from a beach that overlooks the sound. Instead of enjoying the beautiful scenery, I decided to run a loop that showcased the warehouse district by my house and the local Safeway.

When I started my run, I was determined to run 3.1 miles. I had run little spurts of a block or so and decided that I was ready to take the plunge and do a 5k. As I finished my first block, I decided that I was going to run 2 miles, or maybe 1.5 miles and it was going to be fabulous. When I run now, my feet lift and fly past each other as I move towards my destination. As I ran that morning, my feet did this weird shuffle hop thing. one foot would move a little, fall, as the other foot lifted and did the same thing. I am sure it looked awesome. It was a real self-esteem booster when several joggers, some who must have been octogenarians, glided by me as if I was standing still.

At about mile .75, when I went under the Ballard Bridge and turned onto 15th street, as the exhaust from the cars wafted nicely in my nose, my back got that special twinge. The pain wasn't bad enough to stop me, but it hurt. I bent over, and now was sweaty, hunchbacked and shuffling.

Next came the side pain, you all know the one. It feels like you are getting a message from God on the side of your waist telling you that running is not something meant to be done by human beings. The side pain slowed me down a bit. But at that point, I was rounding by the Safeway and was almost home, at mile 1.

I kept going, I don't know why, except that I really wanted to be able to run a mile and a half without stopping. I started walking at about 1.25 miles, when I got to the park by my house.  I took off my shoes and immediately sat down. When I tried to stand up, I realized that my back had gone out. And it was out for the next three or four days.  I actually went to court on Monday morning hunched over and unable to fully stand up to address the judge.

And two weeks later, I said to myself, I did that, I might as well do it again. One day something just clicked and my feet moved and my body moved and I didn't end up injured at the end.....but more on that later.

Here is a video of the run I should have done that first time: Golden Gardens at Sunrise