Wow! I think I know everything. I don’t. I.e., interval training.

Today at lunch time, I met up with a friend. She introduced me to running in intervals. We ran for 5 minutes and walked for 1 minute. Then we ran for 5 minutes and walked for one. And so on. We did about 7 of these bursts of running for 5 and walking for 1. You get the idea.

It was way fun. It was way better than just trying to push myself to cross my 13-minute barrier of running. That’s my usual routine — run for 13 minutes, then walk home, dejected that I couldn’t run longer or farther.

This interval training extends the work out. My friend figured I ran about three and a half miles for 45 minutes. We ran from 120th to Riverbank State Park at 144th Street. This park is genius — an awesome track and other facilities over a sewage treatment facility. It is, actually, lovely. Lilacs blooming around the track’s perimeter. (Flowering trees make me weak in the knees.)

Only problem with interval training is that after 1 minute of walking, it would just feel so good to keep walking. I think this kind of running for me will work best when running with a friend.

You totally get the endorphin rush of running. And that, of course, is why I run.