This week, the weather was much nicer for running. My park finally dried up so I was able to go back running there and I met a goose family that had 6 babies waddling around between mama and daddy. It was very sweet and soothing for me. 
And then I got sunburnt. Which made me like the nice weather a little less. But just a little.
This week, I ran on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and I took my kids for a walk and a tromp through the woods on Thursday.
Monday, I completed my 3 runs of 5 minutes each successfully. My pace was 370-380 right footfalls per running segment. My shins and calves were very tight so I felt like my stride length was shortened because of that. I spent some time stretching afterwards to try and loosen up my muscles.
Wednesday was a dog day. Not as in dog days of summer when it’s really hot, but as in I felt like a dog magnet. I had dogs barking, dogs following me, one dog stopped right in front of me and I almost fell on her. Two of the dogs were strangers to me and none of the dogs were leashed or supervised. I love dogs, but not on my run when they are off the chain and on my tail. Especially if I don’t know them.
This time, I did not follow my run because it made no sense. It said to jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes) walk 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) then jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes). I did the math and for that run to work that way, I’d have to jog slower than I walked, which made no sense to me. So I jogged 3/4 mile, walked 1/4 mile then jogged another 3/4 mile. I didn’t do it as fast as the c25k app thought I should be able to, but I got it done. It was a bit of a weird run, too, because even though I kept counting my footfalls I also kept losing count because dogs are distracting so I have no idea what my pace was on either running segment.
Friday was a crazy day for me. It was just one of those days when nothing seemed to work and I failed all day long. I didn’t want to run. I was sure I would fail it like everything else that day. But I had made it through the rest of the day somehow and I was determined to try.
It was hard. I did not run it as fast as c25k thought I should. I ran 2 miles in 27 minutes instead of 20 minutes. But I ran 2 miles nonstop, y’all. The farthest I’d run without taking a break to walk in the past 8 months was 3/4 of a mile so it was a big jump for me. But I did it. I wanted to quit most of the time. But I encouraged myself to keep going and I did it. My legs hurt afterwards. Even after stretching and soaking in a hot tub. But I did it. And I am so proud of myself. And I know I can do every other workout ahead of me because I did this one and no other workout in this series of workouts involves as big of a jump in mileage as this one did.
I’m still feeling that runner’s high. I’m going to ride it as long as I can. Hopefully long enough to finish the next 3 weeks successfully. I can’t believe I ran 2 miles without stopping. I can’t believe I only have 3 weeks left. I’m so glad I went running today.
And that’s what keeps me running. I’m always so glad when I’m done. I always have a feeling of pride and accomplishment when I’m done. I’ve never regretted a run. I’ve regretted getting injured. I’ve regretted stopping running prematurely and not finishing a run. But I’ve never regretted a run.
That’s what keeps me running. That’s what gets me up. Sometimes that’s what motivates me to get through the rest of my day because I know at the end of the day my hubby will get home and I will get to run and the rest of the day will melt away and I will feel that runners high again. I will feel like I’m fully alive, not like part of me is dead.
That is why I run — because it gives me back my life, if only for 30 minutes. And that is why I’m looking forward to next week’s runs even though I know they’ll be a little harder than this week’s because every day I run I know I’ll feel alive. And the other days, I’ll be able to hold onto that feeling or hold on until I feel that feeling again.
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