so let me put your mind at ease... i have been running and i have been doing pretty well. the month of november was very good. i upped my mileage to 5 miles and i try to do that once a week. my typical schedule is 3 miles, 4 miles, 5 miles... and if i get an additional day i'll do another 3 mile.
on thanksgiving morning we ran a 5 mile event (the turkey trot in dayton). it was AWESOME! i realized that i really like running longer distances. i'm able to settle in and relax; something i still have yet to do with the 3 mile. it's weird, i'm not sure why i can get into a better pace with the longer distance. it seems to be totally mental too.
there were so many people at the turkey trot. over 7000 were expected and i'm guessing there was at least that many there. i quickly fell into my own step. britt and i decided to run our own races in light of what happened last time. we each had different expectations and it was just best to attack the day alone. my three goals were: finish (of course), don't walk, and don't panic. it's safe to say that i was able to do all three with ease. my panic came when i first woke up in the morning because it was pouring down rain and windy as all get out. i just knew it was going to be freezing as well. then i stepped outside to find it a mild 53 degrees. not too shabby. all in all it was good run...
the preparation was different too. training for the ghostly gallop was all uncharted territory. i had no idea what to expect and i was totally new to absolutely everything. training for the 5 mile was interesting. i took on the philosophy... "one more rock". on my route each rock is 1/2 a mile. so every time i increased my run by a rock i was actually adding a mile to my run. 1/2 a mile out, 1/2 a mile back... its also become quite a comfort running in the pitch black. now that the sun goes down so soon it's almost always dark when i run. i feel like that helps a lot with the "blind run" issue that i had during the 5k.
speaking of blind run, in preparation we had to run in jamaica. we decided to do so that last full day we were there and it was very difficult. if not for the obvious, who wants to run while they're on vacation, but also for the hills. jamaica is very mountainous and the course we run was riddled with very steep hills. i made it 30 min that day and threw in the towel. i do feel though that that run prepared me well for the 5 miles on thursday.
my biggest problem now is motivation. i'm not scheduled to run anything this month. and i gave myself permission after the 5 mile to eat whatever i wanted for the weekend, which has turned into a week... i can feel a major difference in my stamina and energy. time to get back into the mindset of "garbage in garbage out". without the proper fuel i'm worthless. i ran 3 miles the tuesday after the turkey trot and it hurt so bad. i could feel every soda i drank and every burger i ate. i ran another 3 miles today and although a bit better, i'm still not up to par. not ever close.
monday starts a new goal... i'm going back to running every other day without exception. it's when i give myself permission to relax is when i decline in motivation. my ultimate goal is that while on vacation in california the week of christmas that i run each day.
i've yet to run each day and i'm not sure how my body will react. i do know that what i put in my body will directly effect how i feel and how motivated i am.
i've finally started seeing differences in my body. things are fitting better. i have more confidence in myself because i know what i'm capable of. i'm starting to really believe in myself more... all things i did not expect to get out of this at all. but i'm happy... i'm very happy for the transformation...
i'll keep an update going of the month. in january i hope to participate in another event. i'm looking for a 5k so if anyone knows of any please let me know.
;)
