I did it!

I am not a morning person but I find working out in the morning to be the best route for me because I am GREAT at coming up with excuses for not working out if I have all day to do so. 

I've gone running before work on the trail several times but only on the weekends. I have to be at my desk a full hour earlier during the week so instead of leaving at my normal time today I had to be up and out a full hour earlier. I'm not going to lie, that was not easy. I felt like I was still half asleep on the drive over. 

As I parked the car I got really excited though because there were a lot of people out and about running. 

I hit the trail and started running and it just was not going well, I felt really lazy today. I couldn't find a rhythm, my form was all off and I kept wondering how writes it would be to nap in the woods. 

I had to stop to re tie my shoes and then I  started getting fussy and actually thought about cutting it short. Thankfully  I thought about how much worse I would feel drowning in disappointment later so I kept going and even attempted to pick up some speed. My endurance just wasn't there though and at the halfway mark it felt like it would take me forever to get back. I also started to worry that I wouldn't get back to work with enough time to stretch and change. 

So I had a little pep talk with myself, there is obviously only one way to get back quicker, run you fool. 

So I started hauling ass which is a special kind of torture on the return trip because it's all up hill. Suddenly I noticed a couple up ahead of me in the distance just strolling along hand in hand. I focused on them and the ground I was gaining. I finally smiled for the first time since I ripped myself from my nice warm bed and that's when it happened 

Ok well I didn't get shot but it sure did feel like it and my right leg felt dead. A few minutes of stretching later and I was functional again but all hope of as strong finish was lost. 

I ended my run in a pretty dismal mood but it thankfully didn't take me long to realize a few very important things. 1) hey I got my ass out of bed and made it to the trail this morning  and 2) my duration and distance are already so much more than April and I've only been back at this for 4 days. 

I have all the reason in the world to smile about what I'm doing. I wore heels all day at work without leg pain and I'm actually typing this on my phone as I'm enjoying an evening stroll. So I'm stronger, I'm not injuring myself and everyday I'm laying the foundation for some amazing feats yet to come. 

Breath. Smile. Repeat. All is well. 

There's a glitch in the matrix

Finding motivation to run today was challenging. I had the day off from work and my legs were incredibly sore. I laid in bed stretching for a few extra minutes trying to find the proper motivation and I decided that I should go running because 

1) it really was nice outside
2) the beef worked an overnight so I had no one to cuddle with
3) sitting around wouldn't make my legs feel any better 

4) it would be hard to find the motivation to go out once the beef got home

So I decided that since it was early enough that traffic would be light and the view would be pleasant I would do a straight shot out and back from a road I live off of. The added bonus of this was that my shaky motivation wouldn't be a factor because no matter how far out I went I would still have to run back home. I am a genius.

4 miles of this view made it really easy to forget about how sore my legs were but on the flipside of that I kept zoning out and daydreaming about the lake so I was slowing down much more than I normally would. I also managed to some how pause my app halfway though the run and it took me about a mile and a half to realize it so while my distance was logged correctly the pace was all off I don't care too much though I'm just happy to be out there again. 

I did notice today that whenever I stopped my glasses would fog up instantly which is a great motivator to keep things moving. I've also been loading up on the sunscreen because as much and I love my super absorbent bondi band I do not want to deal with the tan line it would cause across my forehead. 

I had one weird moment on my run today on the way out I happened across a road kill squirrel and as expected happened upon it on my return trip. Clearly nothing out of the ordinary there until a few minutes later I ran across a second one that I did not notice the first time yet it looked exactly like the first one I saw and all I could think was that there was a glitch in the matrix.

I'm excited for tomorrows run I'm going to try something I've never done before, should be fun!

Well that's better

The one good thing I could say about yesterday's run was that aside from the general horribleness my form was still good. I knew that was absolutely true when I woke up this morning and my abs felt like if done a billion sit-ups.

It took some extra stretching but I got my butt out of bed and hit the road for another run. I gave myself a proper warm up today instead of frolicking towards the trail and suddenly I'd already gone a mile and I was feeling GREAT. 

At several points the trail I run on is intersected by a road. I had been under the impression that there were 3 sections. Today before it was time to turn around I discovered that there is a forth and was excited that there were still unexplored areas for me to look forward to. 

I even managed to let go of some of my go go go mentality and literally stop and smell the flowers. Cheerful daisies were in abundance today but of course when I wanted to document them I can only find one.

Aside from sucking wind during miles 3 and 4 everything else was physically awesome. Mentally though I had a hard time keeping focus but I know that had more to do with me thinking about work stuff. 

In order to keep myself motivated I made a deal with myself that if I could see my shadow I didn't have to push so hard because I would know of someone was sneaking up behind me, but if I was in the shade and couldn't see my shadow I needed to turn it up a notch just incase. Turns out most of the up hill stretches are in the shade, yikes! 

Don't get me wrong, I feel like I'm running in a very safe area and this little exercise in mind fuckery was inspired by the gentlemen who didn't hear me approaching from behind because of his ear buds and pretty much crapped himself as I passed. He looked less then pleased as I tripped over myself apologizing and I wondered if he was plotting my demise as he continued on with excrement in his shorts. 

Speaking of dung, as I was barreling down a hill blinded by the sun I noticed a steaming pile in my path at the last second and proceeded to launch myself over it in what might be the least graceful movement I have ever accomplished. Somehow I managed to stay relatively upright and not die  

Word to the wise: pick up after your dog and turn down your music, running shouldn't be so shitty. 

Ok, no more poop jokes. 

I see a lot of stretching in my future because I feel like I got hit by a bus but in the best way possible. I don't have any numbers yet but I'm hoping this is the start of a very lovely run streak. Tomorrow I won't be on the trail so it will be interesting to see how I do on pavement after such a long absence.