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!
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