January

Last day of January.
Today ends my first month of training.

Total miles run in January: 39.35.

That number will only get higher each month.

I'm ready to see what I'm capable of in February.

PBS & Mondays

Mondays are the worst.  The WORST!
Never felt that way about a day of the week before starting this thing.
And now it's a solid fact: Mondays are the worst.

I used to work with a sweet lady with down syndrome who would, each Monday morning, warn everyone as she arrived - - "Please, don't...don't talk to me....I don't like Mondays."
I'm with you now, Nona!

After great progress this weekend, I got on the treadmill this morning and CHUGGED and STRUGGLED through the 35 minute run. The time took forever. Everytime I looked back at the clock thinking at least 5 minutes had passed, I was wrong and only 30 seconds had passed. If that much.
This happened last Monday, too, and the emotion held me down through Wednesday.

This time though, I won't have to take the blame. 

It's Monday's fault!

Last night, I made the mistake of watching a PBS Nova special on the physiology of a first time marathon runner. I thought it would've been inspiring.
Unfortunately, the inspiration I took from it was fear of injury.
They took a group of 12 sedentary people and trained them for the marathon. 
This crew was motley at best.
Variety of ages.
Variety of sizes.
Variety of fitness levels.

Now that I think back on it, there was a bit of inspiration taken: 12 of the 12 finished the marathon.
They ALL finished the marathon.

Tomorrow is Tuesday and that's when I will start over. 
I'll look back and stick my tongue out at this stupid, energy sapping, sluggish, cliche, Garfield hated day.

4.16mi

These Saturday long runs vacillate between "i got this" and "can i do this?".

Today's distance according to the high holy program calendar was 4 miles.
It was buzzing in my ear all week. "Psst...4 miles Saturday."
I was all ready to tackle it outside when this happened:

Columbus isn't the most efficient at clearing its streets.
Maybe I should have journeyed out in it anyways.
But the run was more important to me than the exploring.

So I drove to the gym for the dreaded treadmill.

I strutted in with all the confidence I could muster.
I'm tackling 4 miles today, I conveyed with my stare and nod and thumbs up to random strangers.

But then I got in front of that treadmill and the fear set in.
I must have bent down to tie my shoes at least 7 times.

Once I finally hit "go", I really did GO!
Mile 1 and 2 flew by without even my notice!

I'm starting to learn my stride.  I'm starting to learn my breathing needs.  I'm starting to learn what to do with my arms so my shoulders don't ache.  I'm not flailing down buses anymore like this pal o' mine:



3.5 miles came and I couldn't stop smiling. 

The knowledge that I just ran further and longer than I ever have before shot sparks through my legs and arms. And I kept going.

It really started getting hard when i had .25mi left or 1 lap on that silly treadmill grid.

It wouldn't come fast enough.

Thankfully, this song came on the ipod and pushed me through to the end:

I <3 Macklemore!

So now I can obsess over next Saturday's 5 miler. 

I'll let it whisper in my ear starting tomorrow.

Today, I'm still proud and bragging about today's distance.

And enjoying the best part of any run.
Chocolate Milk in the Batman Glass:

This is the Challenge

The countdown.

My motivation and inspiration were high immediately after signing up for the Capital City Half Marathon. 

I've been memorizing motivational quotes and posting images to pump myself up for this feat! 

Feeling tough.

Feeling able.

No doubts I can.

Feeling strong and brave!

The truth is, this week I'm facing the plain fact: I'm nervous terrified.
The training program has begun to feel stagnant. I'm running 2 - 3 miles during the week and increasing on the weekends. And it's hard.  It's such a small number - and it's hard!
I'm impatient to be stronger now.  To be better now.  But this is the challenge. Right here.

I need to remind myself of when I started and could barely run a half mile (and was proud of that half mile).  I need to remind myself of how hard it was to breathe back then. I need to remind myself of that soreness back then and the pain back then. And how all of that is better now.
I need to remind myself that it's supposed to be hard!

This is the challenge:

Patience.
Strength.
Overcoming doubts.
Overcoming fears.
Bravery.
Endurance.
Tenacity.


Easier written than run.