Insanity

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

- Albert Einstein


The past few years of my life have found me rekindling that love/hate relationship with running.  Love the strong feeling, but hate the bitter taste after a terrible run.  Like any relationship there are ups and downs, with periods of constant butterflies and then periods of distance.  For the most part it's been a healthy relationship - if your definition of healthy includes running in the dark and/or running 20 milers in blistering heat and humidity.  It's not for everyone.

But it's made me insane. Well, according to Albert Einstein I'm insane.  I've been running for years and that's all I've been doing.  Cross-training meant walking or playing with the dogs. Maybe a little flag football or dodgeballl here and there. Lifting weights meant shuffling 5lb bags of flour and a stand mixer around while I baked cookies.

Really what I'm saying is all I've been doing for the past few years to stay in shape has been running.  Don't get me wrong, it has certainly fared me well, but I'll admit in hindsight that it's been an incomplete workout. Looking back my race times have barely come down since I started running.  Sure, it's a hard comparison to make when I only race a few times a year and my races have been focused on marathons.  That's a tough distance, but the truth is my fastest marathon time is still my first marathon. OUCH!

After Marine Corps 2012 I took time off from running.  I was frustrated, emotional, pissed off, hurt, and tired of running. I got myself into what I thought was the best running shape of my life only to be sidelined by a measly cold and bombed at mile 20.  Truth be told, I've only gone running a handful of times since November.

I miss it terribly.  I went on a five mile recovery run with my bestie last weekend and I had to repeatedly ask the other runners to slow down.  This was even more embarrassing because my bestie had just done a 20 mile run the previous day.  She should have been the tired one!

Then, this past weekend I volunteered at the B&A Marathon and Half Marathon put on by my beloved Annapolis Striders. I showed up at 6am with absolute giddiness to volunteer at my first race and hoping to finally meet Dorothy Beal aka MilePosts. I'm constantly inspired by Dorothy and her path from taking her marathon time from near five hours down to 3:11:26.  Yeah, she did that all while having three kids. You can imagine how excited I was when at mile five on the course she waved at me. Yes, I got giddy because a runner waved at me. To be fair - Dorothy isn't just a runner, she's a freaking runner rock star   

While at the race I ran into so many of my marathon training buddies and each of them looked at me with a bewildered face when I told them I wasn't running that day.  The next question they asked was, "are you signing up for Marine Corps?"

Here I was ready to jump in with both feet and start the cycle of inanity again.  I missed running. I needed it. I hadn't been sleeping properly, eating healthy, or functioning normally for months and I knew running would cure all of those ailments.

But I'm a wise 30 year old now :)  And I've got a hubs who is still recovering from surgery and who was just cleared to start inclined pushups. That means we're ready to stop the cycle of insanity and try something new: Insanity.  It was actually my hubs' idea.  I'll give that man all the credit in the world because he did all of the research and found a program that will work for both of us so we can work out together.

Woah, that doesn't usually happen.  We're the couple who golfs and plays football together, but never the couple that hits the gym together.  Actually, neither of us goes to a gym and that's part of the problem.

Over the next 60 days I'm hoping to break my cycle of insanity by doing Insanity.  That's kind of fun!  The hubs is really into it and I'm excited that we're going to be doing it together.  We did our fitness test last night and I may or may not have yelled at him more than once to be careful with his shoulder, but other than that we're good to go.

For once in my life I'm excited to have someone else put together a workout program for me and I'm honestly looking forward to the strength and cross training. I'm also thrilled that in exactly 60 days the hubs and I are taking a beach vacation and I haven't bought a bathing suit in almost six years, which means not am I over due for a new suit, but I'm actually excited to buy one this year.

Bring it on Insanity!

Anyone else done Insanity? Any tips?