Run, Goalie, Run

When I was in high school I thought it would be a great idea to play field hockey. Ok, no I didn't. I was a quiet, loner type of kid and my Mom resorted to bribery to get me to participate in an afterschool activity. The carrot on the stick was a phone in my room. Since I loved hockey so much, I figured hey, why not play field hockey. (At the time there was no ice hockey team at my school, and certainly nothing available for girls). I soon discovered I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I remember two things the most from that experience: running, and what a horribly cliquey group the team was. Ok, three things: I was also terrible. I wasn't a goalie though, so clearly that was the problem. I ran all summer, because we were told we had to be able to run a 7 minute mile (I got up to 7:26). I ran for a week straight during "camp" before school started. Early in the morning, through the wet grass, through the muddy woods, in the rain, we ran. And ran. And ran some more. And then we did drills, which was more running. And played games, which was running, running, running. Maybe I hate running so much because I associate it with my field hockey experience. As an example of how crappy it made me feel, consider the end-of-season team dinner (held in the school cafeteria, of course). They gave out awards, and when it came time for "Most Improved" they went on at length about how terrible this person was when they started, and how much progress they'd made. And then they called my name. Gee. Thanks. At least it was better than having a nick-name bestowed upon me by the "cool girls" on the team. No, I won't tell you what it was.

And now it's many years later (let's not start counting how many) and I'm rarin' to go on my new goalie training program. I have some kind of idea of what it might contain, having done Maria's programs before. The closest they came to running was doing footwork on an agility ladder. (Actually one segment had an optional run-up-a-hill part, but that was optional, so I opted out.) Imagine my dismay when I discovered a huge component of the first phase of the program is - you guessed it - running. At least it's not "run a 7 minute mile". Or "run for 45 minutes". No, it's shuttle runs. And sprinting. And lateral movement. All very goalie-y. So, I sucked it up and went to a nearby park with a paved running/biking track, measured out my 30 meters (with a 5 foot measuring tape), and marked the distance with cones. There were a few other people out and about, some jogging, some walking. One old guy asked me if I was taking a picture, because I was standing with my phone resetting the stopwatch feature. I think my times on the shuttle runs are probably horrendous. And they were pretty rough, but I compared them to doing Herbies in practice. On my last lap of my last set, when I felt like dying, I heard GoalieHusband's voice in my head, yelling "Come on, Goalie, let's go!!!" and pushed to the finish. I consider it a huge accomplishment that I didn't flop on the ground in the nice cool grass.

So, I guess I can handle it. Even though the running workout is twice per week. *grumble* I think I will continue to go to the park, because I like quiet early mornings, and even though I technically could run in the street by my house, I feel way too uncomfortable doing that. I'm actually pretty proud of myself. I've been dreading doing this, but it wasn't really as bad as I thought it would be. (It still sucked though). I like the feeling of accomplishment I have today. Hopefully I will be able to remember it on Thursday when I'm out there again, sucking wind on the track.