Soggy Dogs Can Run!

When the alarm woke me up the morning I wasn’t sure day had made here yet.  I’m not a fan of waking up when it’s dark.  I’d gotten all my goods together the night before so I was ready to go when my ride picked me up…well except for my water bottle I left on the kitchen counter with my ID, credit card and chapstick inside the little pocket.  Thankfully my friend had me covered – such a friend!  It’ was drizzling…a sign for a wet, wet day.  The roads were blanketed by a fogged mist left from the cars in front of us, making it hard to see the lane in front of you.  Somehow we made it on time to our event.  I had hoped and prayed for a clear day, but rain was in the cards.  I’ve  never run in the rain for any reason but to get from the car to the house!  Here I was ready to run a race in this drizzle.  After 3 bathroom stops in 30 minutes (boy nerves mess with you) we were up for our turn to go. My friend said something to the effect of  the sooner we get done, the sooner we can get dry.  So true!   Music playing in my ears, my friend beside me, we started off for an adventure!  I can tell you it was a run of wills.  I had to will myself to get going.  Everything in me was telling me to stop, but my head was stronger and I pushed on.  It seemed to take about 1/2 mile for me to even get into a rhythm, but then it seemed my body took over, one step at a time taking me forward.  I made the first turn and felt like I actually had a good chance of doing this thing at a constant run…I admit I did stop for about 5-10 seconds to reattach my bib that was so soggy it had ripped out of the pins on 3 sides.  I had a bit of a cramp going so I also worked my breathing a pushed off again.  With that small exception I ran the entire 5K!  As I turned the final corner I was so glad there were people cheering me on, because it seemed the hill was enormous!  There was no quitting at this point, I willed it,  I worked it and as soon I caught sight of my goal, I pushed myself even faster…a sprint if you want to call it that.  Soon I was gasping for air, and at one point even thought it was very possible I might pass out at the finish line, but I saw my friend, heard her cheering me on and I pushed on.  I did it 5 minutes faster than any of my previous 5K’s!  In the RAIN!  Can I tell you how thrilled I was, what an accomplishment that was for me.  I was not fast, I was not going to win any awards for my time…but for me, I won the race!

I have plans for a 10K in April.  I am motivated to train and do this thing that seems so big.  I’ve never done a 10K.  I know I do 4 miles or so in the 60 min workouts I do on Mon & Fri, but I’ve never raced that far, so it’s a challenging idea, but know it will get me that much closer to being able to do my ultimate goal of a 1/2 marathon sometime later this year or early 2013.

Checking in:

I’m closer to my goal of being in the 160’s, and hope next week is the week.  It was a bloated week for me but next week I will be past that and will be able to see where I really am!

I am drinking my 6 glasses of water/day

I didn’t eat past 9 except once.  Sounds like I need more work on this goal so I’m sticking to this time.

I had a different workout routine last week in preparation for the 5K and followed what my body told me I needed to do to be rested properly to run on Sat, so I missed my workouts on Tues/Thurs & Fri.  I am back on my Mon/Wed/Fri runs and using a video or free weights on Tues/Thurs.  I’m not sure what to do with my weekends, but will try to get some fun exercise in.

I am going to add getting to bed by midnight (I don’t want to talk about it – I will work towards an earlier time but I’m starting here)

Inspiration:  A few quotes I’ve seen recently that I would like to share: