Grazie

I woke up this morning tired, achy, and kind of grumpy. I was up throughout the night with a throwing-up child. I was stiff from moving furniture and boxes the day before for a move that I didn’t want to do.  Today was Week 3 Day 1 and it was raining and cold…again.  I really didn’t want to go running, I just wanted to stay in my nice cozy bed. Well, maybe I’ll just get changed, take a look at the weather forecast, see what my sisters have been up to on the blog.  Just reading through their amusing and clever posts motivated me to put on my running shoes.

I thought about the Race for the Cure that Heather just finished (good for you girl!).  I had run this race before in California and remember the running Survivors and those running In Memory Of.  I thought again about Getting to run.  How lucky are we?  Quite honestly I didn’t totally enjoy my outing this morning, but I’m glad I did it and I felt much better afterwords.   So just a simple thanks this morning to my sisters for the inspiration (the Sullivan ones and all those other ones out there).

wearing the pink for 5k

doing my part to kick cancer's ass

When I signed up for the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure last week, I fully intended to just continue my C25K Week Three workout with additional iterations as needed.  No biggie.  But then David persuaded me to try to run the whole thing.    I had my doubts – I really did.  How was I going to manage 5k when I was just now running three minutes continuously?

I spent a lot of time in denial for the last three days.  The “slow and steady” advice from friends and coworkers was not convincing.  What if I run out of air?  What if my legs give out?  What if it’s really humid and the sun’s in my eyes and my shoelaces come untied and I trip and fall in the middle of the bridge and have to be carried out on a stretcher in front of thousands of Richmonders?  All valid concerns in my mind.

Then I read the quality of the try by MrsFatass and How to Meditate While Running from Runner’s World, both of which gave me some strategies for dealing with the mental aspect of the challenge.   And focusing on the meaning behind the race helped me look beyond myself  to the bigger picture.

I wish I could say I ran all the way.  I didn’t.   Did I mention the hills?   And the wicked headwind?  And my exceptionally poor running form (which I seriously need to work on now that I’ve seen the photographic evidence*)?   Anyway, despite my excuses, I did run jog 34 out of the 42 minutes it took me to finish.   Woo hoo!  My longest stretch of running was 21 minutes – that’s seven times longer than my three minutes earlier this week.  And I met my goal of finishing in 45 minutes.  Not a lofty goal but a goal met all the same.

Next year I’m running the whole way.  In 30 minutes.  In shorts.

* Many thanks to David who slowed to a snail’s pace to keep me moving and take action shots of me that will never ever be posted on the interwebs.