Happy Runner

There are times as a runner when I’m going along and it’s just getting it done.  It’s a workout that I’ve promised myself I’d get in and I plod along, step after step, until I’ve met my goal for the day and I head home.

Sometimes I hate it.  Passionately.  I negotiate with myself the entire time about when I can stop and how far I have to go, brokering deals for smaller loops that will bring me home sooner…  

Then there are the weekends like this one.  This weekend I’m a powerful athlete who is in training.  I can’t wipe the smile off my face.  I’m so proud!

I’m an athlete who felt her power in those final three miles of the Better Half when she kicked it out and ran harder the rest of the way to the finish line.  I found a different kind of belief in myself and what I can do.  I saw it with my own eyes and felt it in my own body.

This weekend I learned that six miles is a fun distance for me now.  Fun.  The phrase ‘fun run’ seemed like an oxymoron for years to me, but now?  Oh running, how do I love thee?  Let me compare you to a summer’s day…  And if six miles is fun, I need to push farther to train.  I’m strong, now.  I can do this.

It was powerful to feel myself speeding up in the last turns, not getting tired, not getting out of breath, not feeling my lungs burn, and in the final miles of the course passing a number people.  I don’t really care about the competition, I care because it shows me that I’m not worse than the other runners.  I’m in league with them- we are all present -faster, slower, same paced- I belong, there, too.  (Ok, I’m not going to lie.  I felt a little super heroic and amazing when I was actually passing people during the last mile- I couldn’t believe I had it in me!  But I squish those competitive feelings down and try not to let them influence me beyond just having a little private puppy wiggle to myself. 😉)

And it’s amazing what setting a personal record can do for you.  I’ve been just high as a kite since running on Sunday.  That PR and that solid, good, healthy run has my sails full and I’m ready for the short week ahead…  Not only that, but I was aching to do it again.  Run.  Run.  Run.  

Realizing that I enjoyed the run so much because I had the right level of training made me realize how much fun my 15k’s will be as long as I train for them.  I loved the Better Half because I was ready for it.  It didn’t hurt at the end because leading up to it I was running six miles here and there like it wasn’t any big thing.  9.3 miles- or close to it- needs to be something I’m shooting for more often, and today was my day to take my first crack at it.

All day yesterday I wanted it. I got a 3.5 kitchen run in after 8:PM, but I made a date for 90 minutes this morning to be set aside for a long run. I was itching for it.  I headed out at 10:00 with the intent to just run three times around my extra large loop and see where I ended up, mileage-wise, at the end…  

Well, I did it!  Almost nine miles!  Today marks my longest run ever that is not an official race!  And the early morning weigh-in of 191.6 was just the icing on the cake!  What a great day!  In 1.6 pounds I’ll officially be able to claim 150 pounds lost.  Isn’t that just crazy?!  And come March 6, I think I’ll be totally ready to run the 15k!  I loved this weekend!