Dear Running

I used to struggle with running because, well it was hard. Running was Hard, it was hard to breath, hard to talk, hard to enjoy one moment of one single step. That was then. This is now…Running you are not hard to do anymore, I can breathe, I can talk and I can really enjoy many of my steps, but why running, why do you have to be so mental? Just when I think I overcame the hard part you have to go all MENTAL on me. Though I know running is mental and have experienced that I realize that sometimes being mental can be the hardest obstacle to overcome. Some people run very well when they are angry, I do not.
From,

A Mental runner who had a hard day!

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Wow, running is mental. I got to experience how mental it really is, when I did not want to run at all. Due to some difficult family things going on I had a rough few days. Didn’t eat as much as I usually do, didn’t sleep as well as I do…and I love my sleep. I always like to do my long run on Thursday but this week that was not happening. I had to do it Friday which wasn’t ideal since I had plans Thursday night for dinner which included wine, oh well…I will deal with it. I was really hoping that Friday something would click and I would be roaring to go, but sadly that did not happen. I wanted to think of every excuse not to run but I knew I had to get out there. I had 13 miles to cover and I had 2 weeks before my marathon and there was no way I skip it. Hoping that I would be able to process I didn’t turn on my iPod and I decided it would just be a time for me to talk to God about some things. The first few miles went OK, but after that…I just wanted to quit. To be honest I have never had a day like this. I have endured mental, tough runs, but this was on a whole new level. I just didn’t want to do it. I really think the lack of food and sleep in addition to high emotions was playing into this. I stayed close to home and decided to do 3 loops which I never do but figured I wanted to be on auto pilot with no lights and few cars. I decided that I needed to get to 10 miles and then I would allow myself to stop. I was freaking out and hoping I would not have to deal with this on marathon day. Thinking about how Olympic athletes come to major events and compete just hearing tragic news and they manage to do amazing things, I really wonder how they do that. Those are some SKILLS that I obviously do not possess. I did make it to 10 and just stopped and really didn’t care. I wanted to be done.

June 11, 2010 Stats:

Miles: 10

Pace: 9:52

Time: 1:38

Calories: 1272

I am so thankful for my training and all the ups and downs it brings. It does really prepare you for what’s ahead…the good and the bad.  I hope marathon training will forgive me for missing 3 miles.

I have to end the post on a good note:

Blog spot finally brought back spell check...It's about time!  But that wasn't the good stuff I was talking about.  Tall Mom had a birthday celebration and house warming party on Saturday and I was so excited to celebrate with her and see my fellow bloggy friends. Having local bloggers is so great.  Every blogger loves pictures so I had to share some with you...

You probably saw these on Mels' blog, but I knew she would want to share them....

Pretty running LADIES...Zoe, Amanda, Mel, Kerrie and me.

We are running, running and running...come on Cole, keep up.

Prego beats us...Cole is the one who slowed me down.