Me as a Runner

Pre-race pic...2010.  I'm on the left.

It's a slow day.  I have my run planned tonight...(Nothing is going to stop me this time!)...I will be running 2.75 miles without walking.  My goal time is 30 minutes.  I think this time I am going to have someone drop me off 3 miles away and I will just run home.

It's been a little hard for me to have to start over with running.  A little humbling, too.  I've done the 5k thing.  I've even run three 10ks.  My goal is a half marathon.  It has been for a while.  I even signed up for one 3 years ago, but stopped training because of really really bad shin splints.  Could I have worked through those?  Maybe.  But I didn't.  I waited almost a year and started running again, but I think I pushed too hard, too fast and got shin splints again.  I might have tried to do something about them this time, but we started our infertility treatments and I was determined to not jinx it by working out.  Not that working out would make me not get pregnant....or stay pregnant....but I didn't want to blame myself for anything if I didn't get pregnant...or stay pregnant.  It's a decision I am glad I made...but coming back was hard.

That said, I've been really happy with the way my running training has been going.  I have only missed 3 out of 21 runs.  Once for poor scheduling, once on the day I donated blood, and once for being sicker than I have been in a long long time.  One thing that I am really happy about is that I have been able to do all the runs as I was told to do them.  They started out pretty easy...Running only 60 seconds at a time...but then they started to get longer.  At times I wondered if I was actually going to be able to run for 5 minutes no walking, let alone 20 minutes without walking, but I did.  When my body started to whine, my mind took over and told my body to shut it.  I've been working really hard at stretching, warming up, cooling down, and running with what I hope is proper form so I haven't had shin splints or ITBS.

I feel strong.  I feel empowered.  I feel that I might actually meet my running goals this time.  I might not look skinnier, or even feel skinnier, but I feel stronger.  And that's a start.