Goal: 5.5 miles – Reality: 3.22 miles / “Listen to your body”

“Listen to your body.” A popular phrase that seems to surround me these days.

A popular phrase I’ve heard about a million times in the past month from some pretty knowledgeable people – my doctor, my coach, my friends who are experienced runners.

A phrase that makes wonderful sense – I mean you SHOULD listen to your body, right? Why wouldn’t you? Seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it?

Well, as most things in life, sometimes those things that make the most perfect sense are the hardest things to actually do.

I’m trying, though. I’m really making a concerted effort to listen to my body and not push my knee farther than I should. It’s not as easy as you would think it should be because I have constant thoughts of, “I can’t miss anymore training. I have to build back up on my miles. I can’t slack even for a second for the rest of my runs!” running through my head.

But I have to stop thinking that way. I have to just listen to my body. Even when I don’t necessarily like what my body has to say.

Like tonight. Tonight my body told me to cut my run short.

My knee felt good after Monday’s short 3.5 mile run. My knee was a little achy after Tuesday’s longer 5.5 mile run. Tonight my knee waved the white flag and surrendered after some of the crazy hills around the 2 mile mark, and it was getting really painful toward the 3 mile mark. I hated to stop because I’m already behind on my mileage thanks to the 2 weeks of training I missed from the initial injury. But tonight I honestly wasn’t all that worried about the miles. I was much more afraid of reinjuring things and not being able to train again for a while. So I listened to my body and cut tonight’s mileage short in order to be as ready and healed as possible for my 8 mile run on Saturday.

My coach was strangely proud. He has been watching me closely in training, just waiting for me to dive back in before I really should. He was happy to see me actually listening to my body and not trying to push through tonight. He was also quick to remind me that by listening to my body and stopping short tonight, I wouldn’t have to listen the ever dreaded “told you so!” from him after pushing myself harder than he would have liked. Yeah, yeah, thanks Coach. You win this one. For now…

So tonight wasn’t the best run, but there’s always Saturday. I may not be able to run the full 8 miles without walking, or I might survive running the whole thing but it might be slower than my usual snail’s pace, but I’ll do my best, listen to my body, and hopefully my knee will hang in there with me.

Keep on running,

There Should be Awards for Last Place

Have you ever played in a golf tournament? The winning team always gets a prize, of course, but the last place team always gets something, too. It’s kind of like a nice way to humor them for even showing up that day and making the attempt at the sport.  I feel that it’s only right that running should take a lesson in awarding prizes from the world of golf tournaments, and that it would only be right for the last place runner in any running event to win a prize as well.

Because, well, let’s face it – I would pretty much always win.

I’ve really learned to embrace my slowness over the past couple months.  I didn’t come into the acceptance phase easily, but I got there. And I remind myself each week that running alone at the back of the pack is making me a very independent runner with an impressive skill for reading the coach’s horribly written (and usually at least slightly incorrect) directions. Being the slow runner on my team is just who I am. Finishing my team training runs last in the group is just what I do.  And I do it well.

Maybe a little too well.

Last Saturday, my last place finish was just all out impressive. We had an All-Team Picnic with Team in Training, so all the running, cycling, walking, hiking, and triathlon teams from the Harrisburg, Lancaster and York areas all met to train together in the morning, then enjoy a picnic after training.
There were over 70 people there total, and in the group were three different running teams. Out of the three different running teams, I STILL managed to be the very last person to finish the training run!

Now tell me that’s not just beyond impressive.

I mean, to finish last in my own group is expected, but when every single runner out of three teams finishes before you, well, that just takes last place to a whole new level. Really, there should be some sort of award for that.

Ok, now granted, the coach wouldn’t let me run the entire thing because I’m still coming back from my knee injury – and he wasn’t letting me out of his sight for fear I’d cheat and run more than I should, so I had to walk about half of the mileage, which obviously didn’t help my last place cause.

And granted it was also on the hottest day of the year so far. One weather station had the heat index at 109 on Saturday, and it was easily over 100 by the time our run ended. We were all roasting as we ran! And granted, the two people out of the entire group who were truly slower than I was both ended up feeling awful from the excessive heat and were picked up by a staff member in a lovely air conditioned car and taken off the course, leaving me alone at the back of the pack once again with the coach.

At least it’s a familiar place for me – the back of the pack, that is. Now where’s my prize?

Oh well. The good news is that despite my walk/run combo training on Saturday, I survived the 8 miles in the 100+ degree heat, and my knee seems to be healing nicely. It’s still not 100%, but it’s very close. I’m even back to fully running this week, though I’m still taking it very slowly as I work my mileage back up.

And on a really cool note – look at all these people who came out to train on Saturday. Every single person here is running to to find a cure for blood cancers. Every person here is training like crazy and raising thousands of dollars for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. What an amazing group of people supporting an amazing cause. I’m so proud to be part of this team!



So I’m officially back out and running this week and just trying not to push too hard. I survived 3.5 miles yesterday and 5.5 miles today. It was definitely harder than it should have been (note to self – when you map out a new run, make sure the last mile of a 5.5 mile run isn’t straight uphill), but after almost 2 full weeks of not running, really, I shouldn’t be surprised that I lost a little in my training.

Fortunately, it doesn’t seem that I’ve fallen too far backwards in my training. I just have to force myself to keep the pace a bit on the slower side for at least a few more runs until the knee is 100% healed so I build back up gradually and don’t reinjure it at the same time. It’s all good, though. I’m just happy to be back out and running again!

Ha! Never in a million years did I think those words would come from me!

Taking a nice rest day tomorrow to ease my aching muscles (amazing how much your muscles hurt again after just a short time off!), but I’ll be back for another 5.5 miles on Thursday.

Keep on running,

Goal: Anything even remotely resembling running! – Reality: 3.1 miles of speedy movement / I’m BAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Well, sort of.

My knee is finally on the mend, and I’m back to training. Sure, it’s not exactly the level of training I’m scheduled to be doing right now, and yes, my life still involves a very close relationship with my ice pack, but hey – I’m out on the road, and I’m moving again, so that’s a darn good start in my book.

My coach’s hope is that I’ll be back to fully running by this time next week. My hope is overestimating my recovery time and I’ll be back to running before then.

I headed out for the team run today because my coach wanted to talk to me more about the specifics of my knee injury and see if we could come up with a good game plan on modifying my training to keep me at a good physical level until I can fully run again. Technically I should have been running 5 miles today, but instead I did what was kind a cross between a REALLY speedy walk combined with a REALLY pathetic jog. But hey – either way, I was moving, I was moving quickly, and it felt FABULOUS!

The knee really didn’t bother me much at all during the hilly 3 mile adventure today. I would feel it a little on some of the downhills, but overall nothing bad at all! This is a big improvement over even yesterday, so things are definitely on the right track again.

Sure, I won’t be able to run my 8 mile scheduled run on Saturday, but maybe I can do my combo speed walk/pathetic jog for, I don’t know, 5 of the 8 miles? Sure! That seems possible. Not ideal, but I’ll be happy with it at this point. In the meantime I’ll be seeing a whole heck of a lot of fast walking, biking, and elliptical training until I’m fully recovered – which quite frankly sounds a heck of a lot more exhausting to me than my usual training. Makes me hope for that fast recovery even more.

I’m just beyond happy that I survived 3 miles tonight without pain – even if it wasn’t a true run. This is definitely encouraging! Hopefully the training momentum continues from here so I’m back to where I need to be in no time. Gotta keep the faith!

Keep on running,

Goal: 6 miles – Reality: 0 miles / Still On the Mend – Trying Not to Panic

I should have had a 6 mile team run this morning. Instead, I was home with the ice pack on my knee yet again today. Adding another ZERO miles to my running log. And trying not to panic about it.
This has been a really hard week for me – physically and emotionally. Physically, I’ve been hobbling on my insanely sore knee all week. Emotionally, I’ve been close to tears all week, worried that my non-healing knee injury is something much worse than I had been thinking it was.

I’ve never had to miss a single day since my official training for the 1/2 marathon started. I’ve had aches and pains along the way – that’s only natural. But I’ve never been sidelined like I am right now due to my knee injury. If I could run through the pain, I would. But I can’t! It’s physically impossible as my knee just buckles from the intense pain when I try to put that kind of pressure on it. Not good. Not good at all. I have worked so hard at this training. I have come so far! The thought that I might have to stop training right now just makes my heart hurt.

As of last night I was very much in panic mode, certain I would have to pull out of the Philly 1/2 marathon and transfer my current fundraising money to one of the winter Team in Training races instead. After a full week of no physical exertion on my knee (other than normal walking, of course), my knee was still no better yesterday than it was last Monday. Fortunately today it does seem to maybe feel a tiny bit better, so maybe we are making progress. Maybe.

One of my friends told me she read in one of her running magazines that it takes 3 weeks of not running to lose the level at which you were at when you stopped. I have no idea if that’s true or not, but right now I’m holding onto the hope that it really is. Because I’m terrified that this knee isn’t getting better. I’m terrified that I’ll have to stop training because of this stupid treadmill-induced injury. I’m panicking at the mere thought of how much ability I’ve lost due to this setback.

I did set an appointment with a specialty sports medicine orthopedics doctor on Tuesday just in case this is something more serious than a simple strain. I’m crossing all my fingers and toes that I’ll be given the green light to continue on after maybe another week off, but we’ll have to just wait and see at this point.

If you could keep sending any knee-healing vibes in my general direction, they would be MORE than appreciated. I’ll keep you posted on the medical verdict after my Tuesday appointment.

And in the meantime I’ll keep reminding myself that Disney World in January isn’t a bad alternate race location (Team in Training is offering the Disney Marathon as one of the winter events) if I have to change race efforts due to the injury.

Really hoping that won’t be the case, though. I have really been looking forward to heading back toward my hometown for the Philly 1/2 Marathon. Still holding onto that hope and trying hard not to panic more about the injury and what it will mean to my training. I guess only time (and the doctor on Tuesday) will tell.

Keep on running,

I’m Broken!

OK, well that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but if you’re looking for some training updates, you’re going to be waiting at least one more day. I’m still sitting here with my trusty ice pack on my very sore knee thanks to the evil of the hamster wheel (aka treadmill of torture).

I strained something in my left knee while running on the treadmill of torture Thursday, and while it was sore, but not incapacitating by any means, Saturday’s 7 mile run pushed the injury over the edge.  Since just walking without pain has been impossible since post-run Saturday, I’ve been forced to slow down the last two days and try to let the messed up knee heal a bit.

The good news is that while the knee still isn’t good, it’s definitely better. I’m feeling cautiously optimistic that I’ll be able to get tonight’s scheduled mileage, or at least most of it, made up tomorrow night after a little more ice and rest (and maybe a little ice cream. I mean, ice cream has healing properties, right? Especially the chocolate peanut butter kind!).

I haven’t missed a single training day since I started this thing, so I’m really not a happy camper missing the last two days! If you’re reading now, you’ve probably been following my journey and might feel a bit of the concern I’m feeling over my loss of training days. I mean, let’s be honest here – I’m really no good at this running thing yet! I certainly don’t have training time to lose. I need every single training mile I can get! I have no time to miss mileage. I barely survive the long runs when I’m training exactly as I’m supposed to be – missing days and miles just can’t bode well for my upcoming Saturday run!

Oh well, better to heal now than lose more critical days later, right? Well, that’s what I’m trying to convince myself of at least. Maybe if I repeat it to myself a few more times…

Anyway, it looks like my ice pack and I will have a little more bonding time together tonight, but hopefully tomorrow night I’ll have some solid (or quite possible some gimpy) miles to update about.

If you happen to have any magical ways of sending some healing vibes my way via cyberspace, would you do that for me, please? No need to send ice cream – I have that all taken care of already!

Keep on running,

Goal: 7 miles – Reality: 7.09 miles / Soggy and Sore (but Survived!)

Woke up yesterday morning and immediately looked outside. Everything was wet. Very wet. But I couldn’t quite tell just how badly it was still raining. I looked on my phone to check the current weather – 72 degrees and heavy rain. How lovely! I checked my email to make sure the coach hadn’t cancelled our morning run due to any thunderstorms heading our way. No emails had arrived. Looked like we were heading out to get very wet! Honestly, I wasn’t upset at all about the rain. I had been so miserable not being able to do my runs outside all week due to the crazy heat that I was just thrilled to be getting back out on the road – even if that meant I’d be soaked to the core in the process. And believe me, “soaked to the core” didn’t even come close to describing it in the end.

Surprisingly, a good number of people came out in the pouring rain for the Team in Training group run yesterday. It was pretty inspiring! We had 7 miles on the agenda, and I assumed that meant we’d be running closer to 8 miles since the coach ALWAYS maps our runs out to be much longer than they’re supposed to be.

We all headed out in the rain, and of course I immediately stepped straight into a giant puddle. Of course I did! There we were, not even ¼ mile into the run and my right foot was already squishing beneath me. I was really hoping this wasn’t an omen on how the rest of the run would go. About a mile into the run I noticed that the rain was just pouring over the rim of my visor – like my own personal waterfall in front of my eyes, just a lot less scenic than something like Niagara. The rain felt good, though. Surprisingly refreshing.

While running on the hamster wheel (aka the treadmill) on Thursday, I managed to strain something in my left knee. It didn’t start hurting until shortly after the run, and it wasn’t a terrible pain, so I thought I would be OK with the 7 miles on Saturday. Unfortunately, the pain was enough that it was bothering me with every step on Saturday’s run. It wasn’t unbearable pain, and it did get better after I warmed up a bit, but it never went away, and it definitely slowed me down a bit.

Fortunately, despite the pain, I survived the rain drenched 7 miles, running the entire route without a single walk break. And for once, the coach truly had us running 7 miles! I know it sounds crazy, but I found myself slightly disappointed that I didn’t get to run 8 yesterday. Yes, I realize how nuts that sounds and I realize I should probably have my head examined as well as my knee.

So here I sit with ice on my knee again for a 2^nd night (and with running shoes stuffed full of newspaper in an attempt to dry them out) debating how to handle this week’s runs. Hopefully I’ll wake tomorrow and the pain will be gone. I’m guessing that’s unlikely, though, so I’m debating how to modify the training if necessary this week. I’m scheduled for 3 miles tomorrow, but if the pain remains too bad I may just have to give myself a day off tomorrow and jump right into Tuesday’s 4.5 miles if I can. Or maybe just try to do 2 slow, easy miles instead of nothing at all. Or maybe just 1 mile would be better than nothing. But I don’t want to hurt it worse and be out later in the week when the mileage missed is even higher. Ugh, I don’t know. I hate this. I hate that the stupid treadmill has put a kink in my training. I hate that I’m injured at all right now. I hate that I have to even think about modifying my training schedule this week. I guess we’ll just have to see how it goes. Somehow, someway I’ll be back out on the road this week. Just hoping I’m out there pain free (and preferably with dry shoes)!

Keep on running!

Goal: 5 miles – Reality: 5.02 miles / Running on a Hamster Wheel

I want to start by giving a public apology to my deceased hamster, Footy Face (don’t ask about the name. It was college – I was most certainly drunk when I named him) for all the fancy exercise wheels I put in his cage throughout his lifetime. Metal ones, plastic ones, big ones, little ones. Poor little guy. I thought he was having fun running on them. I thought I was doing him a favor by giving him these great wheels to play on. Now I have to wonder if he cursed me like I curse the creator of the treadmill. He spent a whole lot of his little hamster life just running and running, but going nowhere. Poor little Footy Face. Sorry little buddy.

I mean, who (man, woman, or hamster) really wants to run in place for hours on end? Not me!
I had every intention of getting up before the sun to get my run done outside today. Too bad I somehow managed to set the alarm for an hour too late this morning, so when the radio started blaring at 5:45 am instead of 4:45 am I had a few choice words for the alarm as well as the treadmill that was now unfortunately in my future.

As the temp went down this evening (from 95 to 90 to a balmy 89 degrees), I seriously debated if it would really be THAT awful running outside tonight.  I mean, yeah it would suck, but would it really suck that much more than tripping my way through 5 miles on the treadmill? Because I couldn’t cut the run short tonight. I couldn’t! As much as it was going to suck, I had to commit to the full 5 miles since I crapped out early on my Tuesday run. Really, maybe 89 degrees wouldn’t be THAT awful. With the heat from the blacktop it would only feel like, what 109 degrees?

Yeah, I came to my senses and went to the gym.

Fortunately the TV options were a little better tonight, and 2 episodes of Community later, the run was over. Sure, I stumbled over my own two feet a good 5 times, but fortunately my face never came quite as close to hitting the screen of the treadmill as it did multiple times on Tuesday. So I guess if you have to find a bright spot to my running performance tonight – there’s one for you.  The first 2.5 miles weren’t too bad, but the second 2.5 miles seemed to drag on FOREVER. I was sure the mileage tracker had to be broken. “Hello! Is this thing on?” It seemed to be moving SO SLOWLY!

But in the end, I survived running on my hamster wheel without injury today.

Go me!

And fortunately Saturday’s forecast is looking much cooler, so with any luck we won’t be melting for the Team in Training group run in the morning. I’m just looking forward to getting back out on the road again. The run Saturday is scheduled for 7 miles, so by the coach’s mapping (that’s always WAY longer than it should be), I’m guessing we’ll see closer to 8 miles. I just hope they’re 8 good miles. I’ve had enough lousy runs this week. I’m ready to get off the hamster wheel and to have some fun again!

Keep on running!

Goal: 5 miles – Reality: 4.1 miles / Ego Check

Is there like some sort of crazy law of running that dictates that all things have to even out in the running world? Is there some rule that if you have two great runs you must then follow it up with two craptastic ones? Because that’s where I am this week.

Lucky me!

It’s like just when you start to think you might actually have this running thing figured out, the running gods come in and smack you right back into the reality that you have no clue what you’re truly doing running like this!

Thanks for the ego check, running gods. Wouldn’t want me getting all “Ooh, I’m a runner now!” would we? Silly me.

Let’s start with Monday. Oh, Monday. What a lovely run. It was a balmy 96+ degrees (which was even more pleasant while running along the blacktop of the streets, feeling the heat rise from below, too). But I only had to run 2 miles. I mean, how hard would that be, right?

Riiiiight…

It sucked. Big time! I ran 7 miles without stopping on Saturday and felt on top of the world, but I walked briefly at one point in my 2 mile run yesterday. Seriously – I had to walk? What in the world? Talk about running being a mental game. Let’s see what went through my head as I ran yesterday:

“It’s SO freaking HOT out here!”

“Who runs in this weather?”

“I should have waited until later to run.”

“I should have chugged more water today.”

“I should have run at the gym on the treadmill instead.”

“I need to stop and walk”

(to which I stopped and walked for a minute, only to think…)

“I have to run – the quicker I get home, the quicker I get out of this insane heat!”

(to which I started running again only to think…)

“Dear GOD I’m going to die out here on a lousy 2 mile run!”

Then I came home and threw myself into my child’s sprinkler in the back yard. Ahhh, the sweet relief of freezing cold hose water!

Oh, and I’d like to give a special shout out to the man who yelled out from his porch, “Is it hot enough out here for you?” as I passed by his house. Yeah, buddy. It was. It really was hot enough. Thanks.

Fast forward to tonight’s run. It was over 100 degrees out there today. Now I might be crazy, but I’m not insane enough to try a 5 mile run in heat like that. You can’t even breathe out there to walk to the car, let alone to run!

My options for today were to either get up at 4:45 am to get my run in before work, or to hit the treadmill at the gym after putting my son to bed. I decided the treadmill would be my best bet. I was wrong. Let me just say that if I have the same options in front of me for my Thursday run, I can guarantee I’ll be getting out of bed to run before the sun comes up.

How do you people run on a treadmill?

I’m seriously treadmill challenged. I mean, running on a treadmill is boring to start with, let alone running any long distances. I knew 5 miles would be beyond boring, but I hoped maybe I’d find a good show on TV to tune into while I ran. Not so much. I’m sorry, but when 2 hours of Hell’s Kitchen was the best option of the six different channels available, I knew I was in for a painful run, despite the air conditioned locale.

Beyond the boredom factor, let’s talk about the elephant factor. That would be what anyone around me would likely say I sound like on a treadmill – a big old clumsy elephant. I feel like my feet are just flopping around – THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD – the whole time. I’m all uncoordinated on the treadmill for some reason I don’t quite understand. Granted, I’ll be the first to admit I’m not very coordinated when it comes to basic physical movement in general, and I’ve been known to take a fall here or there even running outside (see my first ever post here!). But the treadmill is a whole new level of clumsy for me.

I counted 7 stumbles that resulted in me grabbing onto the treadmill handles just seconds before falling face first into the machine tonight. Yes, you read that right. I tripped 7 times over absolutely NOTHING – 5 of which were in the first 2.5 miles. Are you kidding me? Who is that uncoordinated?
Oh, right. That would be me.

So there I ran, thumping my feet along, paranoid about falling on my face, trying not to make eye contact with anyone (as I was quite certain I was making the people around me nervous as they watched me, hoping they wouldn’t have to be the ones to call 911 when I finally fell off the darn thing for good), and bored to tears. At 2.5 miles I realized my left foot was numb. Guess I tied that shoe a little too tight. Fabulous! Because I was already having so much fun as it was. A numb foot just topped off the night. I stopped, fixed the shoe, and never turned my mileage tracker back on. Of course I didn’t realize this until the end of the run, so I turned it back on for like the last quarter mile – like it even mattered at that point? Why did I even bother? Oh, and I didn’t even make my 5 mile goal. I just gave up. I couldn’t take it anymore.

Once again, it was the mental game that beat me tonight. Physically I could have done 5 miles without issue, but when I tripped that 7th time and missed hitting my face on the screen of the treadmill by mere inches, I threw in the towel and called it a night at only 4.1 miles. I was irritated, embarrassed, bored, and trying to leave with my face still in one piece.

So I guess the lesson learned here is that for all the highs felt in running, there are going to continue to be an awful lot of lows along the way. Just when you get confident in what you’re doing, something will bring you back down to the reality of how hard this all really is to conquer. I guess it just all evens out as you go along. And conquering those lows is what will get me back out there on the next run.

Let’s just hope those running gods are in agreement that I’m due for some highs to come back around for the rest of the week’s runs – especially Saturday’s long one!

Keep on running!

Goal: 6 miles – Reality: 7.01 miles / Having FUN!

I still can’t believe I’m saying this (or typing it, I guess, is more accurate). I still can’t believe it’s even true.

I ran 7 miles today and I had FUN doing it!

I was supposed to have a 6 mile group run with the Team in Training group this morning, but as usual, the run was mapped longer than 6 miles (I’m on to you, coaches!). Anyway, it ended up being almost exactly 7 miles. I remember the day I signed up for Team in Training and got my training schedule. I remember my stomach tying itself in knots as I looked at the increasing mileage for the Saturday long runs. I specifically remember looking at this week’s scheduled 6 mile run with a heavy heart, seriously second guessing what I had signed myself up for. I never thought I would be able to do it. It might as well have read 6,000 miles because 6 miles seemed equally unrealistic.

To be really honest, even as I signed my Team in Training registration form and paid my registration fee, I really didn’t have the faith in myself that I’d be able to accomplish the goal I was setting out to hit. I just couldn’t imagine how someone as out of shape as I was going into this would ever be able to run 13.1 miles with just a few short months of training.

I also have to admit that as committed as I’ve been to Team in Training and to the training schedule I’ve been following, I’ve second guessed my decision to train for this ½ marathon almost every single run for the past 2 months. With every long run on Saturdays, I would find myself dragging far behind everyone else, wondering how in the world I ever thought I would be able to complete 13.1 miles. Every single run had me thinking I had made a ridiculous mistake signing up to do this. I felt like such a fraud for making people believe I could accomplish this goal. A goal that would ulitmately end in me completely embarrassing myself when I couldn’t finish the ½ marathon because I sucked so bad at this running thing. I would envision myself giving up halfway through the actual event, walking the rest of the way with my head down, hoping no one I knew would see just badly I was doing, how miserably I was failing.

But something amazing happened this week. All the training, all the conditioning, all the miles I’ve struggled to run the past two months – it all came together for me this week. Everything finally started to click in my last two runs. I can do this. I can TOTALLY do this! Not once in the last two runs did I second guess the commitment I had made. Not once did I feel I would have to give up. Instead, I felt amazing. I felt strong! I felt confident. I felt like I could run forever. I felt excited at the idea of running 13.1 miles. And most important of all, I had FUN!

I ran the entire 7 mile run today. I didn’t walk ANY of it. Not at all! I didn’t even feel the slightest need to stop at all the entire time. And the kicker – it was a hilly freaking run! It was the first group run that we’ve had with some really tough hills, and I ran them all. Every single one!

And to top it all off, I ran my 7 miles today with a pace of 11’17″ which is amazing for me! My pace for the almost 6 mile run last Saturday was 11’43″ without hills, and I was thrilled with that one! I’m sure you can see why I’m in total shock at this week’s pace!

But the best part of it all is truly the fact that I had FUN again today! I didn’t at all care that I was one of the last people to come across the finish line today. I didn’t mind in the least that I didn’t have my iPod on and music pumping into my ears. None of it mattered today because I was just enjoying the whole experience today. I enjoyed the scenery as it went by me. I enjoyed the sounds of the world around me. I listened to my feet hitting the ground and the rhythm of my breathing. I waved to other runners and bikers, smiling as we passed each other. Never once did I think “Oh my God, is this over yet?” Not once! I ran strong today, and I had FUN doing it!

I never could have imagined I would be typing a post like this. I mean, just a few weeks ago I was a search and rescue mission when I couldn’t even run 3 miles without walking in my group run. Less than two months ago, I couldn’t even run 1 mile without stopping to walk. Today I ran 7 full miles, with hills even, and I honestly could have easily run further.

Today I accomplished something I never, ever, thought I could. And I had a heck of a lot of FUN doing it!

Keep on running!

Goal: 4.5 miles – Reality: 4.77 miles / This is Pretty Cool!

My family has been in town visiting, so I haven’t been keeping up with the blog much this week as I’ve been busy enjoying their visit! I apologize for slacking, but I’m baaaaaack! Go ahead. Get excited.

Monday’s 2 miles were easy enough. It was HOT, so I just enjoyed a nice easy run. Tuesday was a disappointing 4.5 mile day. I had the goal in mind, but I just I didn’t make it.  I only made it 3.75 miles. I just didn’t have it in me for some reason. I wasn’t necessarily exhausted. My legs were OK. I physically COULD have finished the run, but I just didn’t have the heart to finish on Tuesday for some reason (and the fact that it was 4:45 am when I woke up to do the run probably didn’t help the cause). Anyway, going into today’s run, I was still feeling exhausted, and I was worried I would let myself slack on my mileage again today.

But I didn’t. Instead, I had a great run! It’s amazing the difference the weather can make, by the way. Really amazing. Today was zero humidity and much cooler than it has been here for weeks. It was a beautiful night for a run, and I honestly enjoyed every second of my run tonight!

Did you just read that? Let me write it again for you.

I honestly enjoyed every second of my run tonight!

Wait…WHAT? Yeah, I said it. I enjoyed running tonight. Like really, truly enjoyed my entire time out on the road. Wow! That NEVER happens. That’s pretty cool.

I was right around 3 miles into the run when I realized just how much I was enjoying the run. I was smiling, waving to people I passed, bopping my head along to my favorite cheesy running songs on my iPod. It was great. Really great! And in that moment, I started to really think about how big a milestone this was for me. I mean to this point I’ve been someone who has been hitting the miles week after week, but someone who really hasn’t been enjoying the actual running all that much. Yeah, I’ve been doing it, and some days have definitely been better than others, but I haven’t exactly been “loving” the whole thing. I mean, feeling like you’re going to die every time you’re out on the road, really isn’t all that fun in general.

But tonight I didn’t feel like I was going to die. Not at all. Instead I really had fun out there on my run! It was pretty cool.

As my feet hit the road, step after step, instead of my legs jiggling underneath me, I took note of how tight they were with each step. I marveled in their new strength. It was pretty cool.

As I looked at my mileage tracker and noticed I had flown through 4.5 miles easily, I realized I wasn’t even breathing that hard. I had a lot of life left in my run tonight, had I wanted to go even longer. I wasn’t gasping for air. Not even a little bit. My lungs felt great! It was pretty cool.

As I walked in the door tonight after my run, I assessed my stats. 4.77 miles, feeling strong right through to the end. A pace of 11’46″ – a pretty darn good time in my world! Normally, I spend most of my runs just wishing they were over, praying for the end to come quickly. But not tonight! Tonight I actually wasn’t ready for the run to end and found myself feeling a little disappointed when I got home and the run was over. Huh, I was disappointed that I had to stop running – WOW! That’s pretty cool.

I left the house for my run tonight exhausted, just hoping I could somehow manage to drag myself through this full run without throwing in the towel, and somewhere along the way I became energized, confident, ready to take on the full run and more. Tonight I really felt like a runner.

Yeah, that was pretty cool.

Keep on running!