I ran a Mile. And Strained a Hamstring. But not at the same time.

Last night at bootcamp was a night of firsts. I ran a mile for the first time in my life. I guess I'm a late bloomer. I mean, we were required to run a mile for gym class in middle school and high school, but I never ran it. Not the whole way. I would start with a light jog and when it got too much, I'd start walking. Running just enough in the end to pass the test and avoid repeats. But the test times were so ridiculously high, that some of the stronger athletes in school could probably have crab-walked the mile and still passed.

So, last night I decided to pace myself, but to not stop. That's a big thing with me. Not stopping. Sometimes it gets me in trouble when it comes to questions or arguments, but it turns out in training, it's not so bad. With the rest of the group, I ran up a giant hill and down it. And it made me happy. Not the dredge that I running usually is for me. Keep in mind that I jog every day, but it's a walk-jog alternate and therefore doesn't really count as a mile of consecutive jogging, even though I think I jog a mile total. Maybe I'll start jogging my entire route soon.

But not yet, because the other part of not stopping is that sometimes it hurts. Near the end of the training period, we were doing sprints in pairs. I wasn't buddied up, so I ran with our trainer. A former football player. Who is much faster than me in lead shoes. However, I wanted to prove that I could sprint, so I pushed it all out. Not bad for the first run, but the second sprint got me. I felt the tweak in the thigh that people dread. I hopped to the finish, but the pain sucked. I strained my hamstring. Not the painful, stop in your tracks pop of a pull, but not fun nonetheless. Despite icing, stretching, and blasts of heat, it still is tweaked today.

The one thing I can say about boot camp is that it makes going to the bathroom more of a challenge than ever before. Each week it's a different muscle that makes it hard to get off.

Yesterday was also the first official weigh in for Chef and I's Biggest Loser contest. Wish me. Only 90 days to go.