It's all sunshine and running shoes

Can I be completely honest?

Before a run, there are about one thousand things I can think that I'd rather be doing. And in the first couple of miles? It doesn't feel good. My muscles haven't warmed up yet and the distance/time ahead of me is daunting. Those are not the feelings that make me go back out time after time.

It's how I feel when I get to the point on my way back that was near the beginning on my way out. It's the feeling I have when I finish and realize I've made it further than I did last time. It's when I take a little perspective and realize no matter the one thousand things I'd rather be doing, it's the one thing that I did do. That's what sunshine and running shoes feels like to me.

But enough already, right? It's NOT all sunshine and running shoes ALL of the time.

Last weekend I finished the Big Ten Hoops Day 5k at an 11:20 pace, right on track for my race day goal. Though it'd feel awesome to break 11 minutes, I'm not going to push my luck. I'm drinking the kool-aid my friends at The Running Company are selling and focusing more on the distance, less on the time.

That means I'm trying really hard to not focus on the disappointment that my overall pace was 12 minutes this morning. Instead, I'm trying to remind myself that I ran a distance of 7.5 miles and for 90 minutes. I did take a couple short water/stretching stops along the way so I'm sure my actually running pace was slightly faster that 12 minutes. But I had figured I'd get 8 miles in today and I didn't. But I did get seven.and.a.half miles in today. These legs and lungs have never felt a run of that distance. And I lived to blog about it!

I've been taking it easy on the weekdays, and I haven't made all of the runs on my training schedule. After Sunday's 5k (in place of my usual Saturday run), I ran another 5k distance (3 miles and change) along the Central Canal on Thursday. That was shaving 15 minutes off the week's longest scheduled run and completely missing the other two. The me training last year would have been pretty down and out about that. But the me of last year also got injured and didn't get to run the race. Lesson learned. They aren't making it up when they say it's better to let your body rest and heal, than keeping pushing further when it's screaming at you to slow down.

Long post here, but if you're still with me I'd love to know what's on your iPod when you run. It's funny how the songs that sounded fast tempo while sitting on the sofa don't feel so fast in the moment. I'm going to look through my playlist, do some deleting and then share a few of my favorites. (Hi Sara!) Ahem, there will be no making fun of my taste in music when I share said favorites. In the meantime, does anyone want to share what's on your playlist?

Progress!

Why hello-o-oo. While I haven't been writing, I have been running! And it's been going pretty well I must say. Last week's runs were short, which was a good thing because so was my free time. I'm not sure I'll ever understand the science behind all this, because the way this mind works, if I'm cutting back on my time/miles, it doesn't make sense how my body would be prepared to then increase time/miles past where I was to begin with. But regardless of Karissa Science, I was in fact able to push myself further and longer on yesterday's run.

We took a different route along the Canal Towpath, rather than the Monon so I'm not exactly sure on my distance.

And the stopwatch on my running watch stopped at exactly 30 minutes, but I don't know when that was so I'm not exactly sure of my time.

Based on the runners around me, I ran somewhere around 60-65 minutes and somewhere between 5.5-6 miles. Almost HALF the distance of the mini marathon! (I'm working hard at see that as a good thing. I'm almost half way there!!! Rather than this: You mean I have to run twice this much plus a bit in just 2 months???)

With the recent heat wave and all (Sunshine! 30 degrees!), I shoved my gloves in my pockets during the first few miles and in the last couple I noticed I'd lost one. That must mean spring is here and I cannot need my running gloves any more this year, don't ya think?