Apologies to Nike.

I have never been a runner. I think the runner's high is a lie. My favorite thing about having arthritis is that it gave me a reason not to do something I've always hated.

And yet, I recently decided that I want to run. It is only because I want to get to cross an actual finish line at a triathlon rather than having the anticlimactic just stopping in the transition area while doing the 2/3rds aquabike. My knees are pretty under control these days -- except when the weather is bad -- so I decided to start running. While cardiovascularly I'm pretty sure I can handle it, I know my joints need more time (a thought confirmed by my favorite Ironwoman). So, I googled it and found a running training plan that would have me running for 30 minutes in seven weeks:

Week 1 - run 2, walk 3, repeat six times

Week 2 - run 3, walk 2, repeat five times

Week 3 - run 5, walk 2, repeat four times

Week 4 - run 7, walk 3, repeat three times

Week 5 - run 8, walk 2, repeat three times

Week 6 - run 9, walk 1, repeat three times

Week 7 - run 30!

Seems totally doable. And, until week 4, it was. However, I seem to have confronted a case of body-willing, mind-weak or mind-willing, body-weak, depending on the day. I have been on the run seven minutes for the past two weeks now because I just can't seem to make myself do the full 30. Sometimes my knees legitimately hurt. Sometimes, I just think they do because I don't wanna.

But as of today, no more. I am telling myself: "Just f-ing do it." And, if it takes telling myself to just f-ing do it three times or thirty times over the course of 30 minutes, that is what is going to happen. Because I know I can do it even if I don't like it.