Appreciation

One of the best things I've gotten out of the Flying Feet program so far, and there's been a lot of things I've already gotten out of it, has been an appreciation for running.  Every week we are given a theme- which I really have been taking to heart.  This week happens to be themed appreciation... this theme spoke to me a lot... when I sit back and reflect on what I've already accomplished, I'm wowed... I mean, I ran 10 miles this morning... that's awesome!!  

Sometimes it really doesn't hurt to not only celebrate your accomplishments but to appreciate them- really give thanks that yes, I'm able to do this. This is so important for me especially, because most of the time I'm complaining about running... it's no fun, I hate it, I don't want to, please don't make me.... but some people can't run at all, or walk, so why am I complaining?  Well, because it's hard, and uncomfortable, and hard.  But completing each run, mile by mile, with great runners sharing their time, motivation, encouragement with me- man, I've definitely learned to appreciate it!

bitches & gripes

I think I'm a pretty positive person, most of the time, but I also have an ever-present side of me that loves to bitch and gripe.  And I'd love to let you all know about a complaint I had during my 9 mile run this morning... and my complaint isn't even related to a) having to run 9 miles or b) waking up before 9am on a Saturday...  I did fairly well with those two issues.

Me and a handful of runners were standing at a water station (7 miles into our run, woohoo, we're awesome!!!) and observe a pack of cyclists headed our way- so we start cheering them on, some say some nice things to us as they past... it was just a polite little cheer fest going on...

Until, one of the cyclists asks as he approaches us, "what race are you doing?"  We call out that we were just running for FUN!  As he passes, he turns back and says, "Really?  When did running become fun?"

7 miles into my run, I did not find humor in that. 

NOW.  I will be the first one to admit, my idea of fun does NOT include running, especially for 99 consecutive minutes like this morning, HOWEVER.... he could have just given us a good old polite thumbs up, or "Good Job" and went on his merry way. 

The last time I checked dressing up in a bright ass colored adult sized baby one-sy with a bike seat up your crotch isn't that much fun either.  

Moral of my bitch and gripe: Let's all be supportive to each other no matter what insanely miserable endurance activity we're participating in- give a good ol' fist pump and just keep on trucking, and make yourself think you're having fun, without worrying about someone reminding you that in fact, you're not.

9 miles?!

I have to wake up at 6-ish AM tomorrow morning to run NINE miles...

Have I ever mentioned I'm not a morning person?

Apparently I'm also not a person who doesn't FREAK OUT in anticipation of running 9 miles... like, nine sweaty hot difficult miles, in a row...

Have mercy on my soul... I know I'll get through it (hopefully without crying like my 8 mile run), but can't understand how right now...

6k aka 3.75 miles

Had a "fun" 6k in my running schedule tonight... it was an out and back course with some lovely Carroll County rolling hills (uuuhhh duh!) and me and some of our pace group made it out at around 20 minutes- picked up the pace and I made it back in somewhere just under 18 minutes- booyah!

This probably doesn't sound as impressive as it felt- because I'll tell ya what- as we turned the cone on our way back, we were definitely trying to pick up the pace, but we knew the same hills were going to be a challenge on the way back, so we also were trying to make sure we'd have enough gas.  So, we were being a little conservative in how much faster we were headed back.  Once we passed the marker that let us know we had only 1 mile to go, I pretty much just decided to beat feet.  And luckily I had enough left in me to do just that :)

Progress

If you've been wondering I haven't been posting, it's because I've been busy running!

My progress has been great so far; I have been having a great experience running with Flying Feet and am hoping my success continues *cross fingers*.  I run with the group three times a week, and the coaching is a huge help- Dave Griffin runs this program for runners of all levels and goals.  He is a great coach, and is extremely knowledgeable- probably because of his own running experiences, as well as helping high school runners train in the past.  He's been running the program for a while, and I'm very happy to have found out about it, because I know it will be a huge part of successfully completing this journey.

It's a brand new experience for me to be running with others, and I was super nervous.  I have the benefit of a college friend, Steph, also joining this program.  And it turns out one of her friends, Megan, who had also gone to college with us, had done the program in the past, and joined again for the summer program.  Having some friendly, familiar faces in the crowd really helped calm my nerves a little bit.

The rest of my nerves calmed down a bit once I realized how awesome it was to run with other people... first of all, I'm learning a lot- apparently I was running too fast- most runners make the mistake of running faster than they should... although I joked around that this probably wasn't a problem of mine- once I got together with my pace group, I realized, holy cow, I really was running too fast!  No wonder I wasn't able to pull off a longer run, I was using all my gas within the first few miles... this new running pace is great- for instance, my 8 mile run on my own was a nightmare- over-ran the first half, had to walk a lot the second half (and cry)... but this weekend I ran an hour and fifteen minutes with my pace group, running the second half of the run a full 2 minutes faster than the first half, feeling stronger than ever (runner's high really does exist!)...

Although, with a group run in a half hour, and mother nature not giving me a break (so hot!!!), we'll see if I get lucky with another good run- because I've also learned that on any given day no runner knows when a rough run will hit us.

Officially Training....

So up until this point, I've been referring to how my "pre-training" has been going... mostly because I was so scared to actually begin training... I don't know why- I was running during pre-training, and now I'll be running during training.  Doesn't sound much different, eh?

I guess I was just really intimidated to be all official about it.  Because that means I'd have to start completing a lot of long runs, tempo runs, pace runs- there was a lot of running jargon involved with training that I did not know a lot about, so I didn't want to talk to people about "training" to have them ask me questions, and then I'd give answers that would clearly reveal I had no idea what I was doing...

Well, I found a solution- I found a local running program- so now, I'll have the benefit of a seasoned coach, and a lot of seasoned runners (and new runners) who I can run with!  And doing it this way, I can learn as I go without worrying about all the technicalities.  I just do what the coach says, and I do it with this group of people to keep me motivated.  Perfect!!

My schedule starts Monday.  I've actually followed the schedule this week, in preparation, so I'm already feeling great about this!

This is so new and exciting that I actually can't wait to run 8 miles Saturday!  I hope that I continue to look forward to weekend long runs, although knowing me pretty well, this welcomed feeling for long runs may die down VERY soon... oh well, gotta make it count while it lasts!

All this speak of running reminds me, it is time to hit the road- I think that nasty thunder cloud has passed by now...

Run on, friends!

Strong Run Today :)

So, I know that it's just a little victory, but I ran about 3.6 miles today in 36 minutes, which isn't anything big to some people, or even a PR for me, but I felt really strong throughout my run- which has not been a feeling I've had on many runs recently... so it was a totally feel-good moment!  


And then I came across this Paulo Coelho quote: "...when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too."  


And it just really made me smile- because I've been working really hard in the pool and on the road, and that's why I felt so strong on my run tonight.  I put in the work and it paid off.  And although I have so much more work to do, I also know I should be proud of myself and celebrate the little victories along the way.  Woohoo!