Have you ever woken up and felt like you don’t want to do anything? That’s exactly how I felt Monday morning. Alarm went off at its usual time (4:05 am) but I wasn’t feeling it. So I just reset my alarm for a later time. Now the thought did cross my mind to just run later that morning (around 7) since I had an appointment but again I just wasn’t feeling it. I really hate when I wake up feeling like this because I know I still have to get my run in for the day (unless I have a rest day set for later in the week and can just switch the two out). Running by myself in the evening has proven to be very difficult. I’m just not motivated enough. Now when I have someone to meet in the evenings it’s easy peasy. I really wish I had someone who was dedicated to running and training who enjoys a good 7-9 mile run after work that I could run with. Even knowing all this I still chose to stay in bed. Needless to say, I was not looking forward to the evening run but knowing that it must be done, I had to do it. A trainer’s work is never done (especially if you want the best results). Well I ended up running on the treadmill….no not the whole 9 miles….I split it up into two runs (4.5 miles each).
Tuesday morning started off kind of rocky. I had to have a little pep talk with myself as soon as the alarm went off (well actually I hit the snooze button and then talked to myself). I knew that I had to get my butt out of the bed and onto the pavement. So I jumped up after the second snooze (guess my pep talk was missing a little pep) and got dressed and headed out the door. I was able to get in two miles before meeting the Black Girls Run (BGR)! Columbia group at 5:10 am. This run I told myself that I wasn’t going to pay attention to my pace….I was just going to run. And run I did. I completed those seven miles in 58:46. Yay me!!!
Not sure what was going on with me this week…..every day it seemed as though I was having a constant battle with myself about getting up to go run. I even questioned whether I was falling out of love with running. Well Wednesday my mind was stronger than the matter. I stayed in bed and decided to run that evening. Running Monday on the treadmill wasn’t that bad….so I was thinking that Wednesday would be the same…at least it’s not another nine miles right? Well I managed to knock out three miles on the treadmill after work but man that was much harder than it seemed. Again I believed my mind was playing tricks on me. The entire ride home from work I was debating with myself to run as soon as I got home or to wait a few hours and then run. Well I ended up running around 5 pm (waited a couple of hours) on the treadmill.
Thursday, things started looking up. I woke up ten minutes before my alarm was set to go off. Good thing I did because when I reset my alarm on Monday morning I actually forgot to turn it back on. Anyhoo, there was no need for a pep talk this morning. I made up my mind to just hit the treadmill at 5:00 am since I really hate running the streets by myself. I was all ready to go for my morning treadmill run…actually pumped. Imagine my surprise almost half a mile into the run and the treadmill just starts to slow down. I’m like WTF. I look down and the treadmill is smoking. I knew I had been getting faster but man was I on FIYAH!!!! OMG. Well I did what any runner would do. I put on some longer shorts (when I run in the house I wear short shorts 🙂 ) and headed out the door to complete my five miles solo. It was a few other runners out there so I didn’t feel completely alone. I finished this run with a pace of 8’12. Funny when I don’t worry about my pace it always seems to improve. So this run I guess you can say I ran with all heart and legs!!!!
Thursday was also the last day of the 30 Days 30 Run Challenge. For this challenge we had to run/walk a distance of 2 miles (3.21 Kilometers) everyday for 30 days without missing a day for that distance. Moving every day was a real challenge for me. Some days a gal just need her rest days!!!
Thursday was also the day that I found out that I didn’t make the pacer cut for my next half in Dec. Guess that’s what happens when you don’t follow through on things. Not really sure how I feel…maybe a little sad because I can’t run it for free :(. Price increases if not registered by Friday (these race fees are beginning to add up). I also felt relieved because now I don’t have to worry about my pace throughout the entire run….can you say stress free!!!! My goal is still a sub 2 but now it truly is my race my pace.
Friday was very uneventful…alarm went off….I rose…got dressed and headed out to meet the ladies of BGR! Columbia for a 5 mile run. Now Saturday is a whole different story. I was all pumped for long run Saturday but the weather man had something else in store. It was pouring down raining when I woke up at 4 am. I went to bed early to prepare for an early morning run, not to early though…it is Saturday. I planned on running around 7:00 am since it would be daylight out. Well the rain didn’t let up until about 3 ish. So I hit the pavement at 4:00 pm with a five-mile run and hopefully will run my 14 miles on Sunday. I checked the weather ahead of time and man looks like cold cold weather in store for tomorrow. Oh well a runner has to do what a runner has to do. RUN!!!!
This week was really tough for me mentally but I still managed to get it done. Looking forward to the next few weeks in my training…hopefully things will get better and not be such a battle.
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