At the encouragement/prodding/"Nicki can totally kick your ass" sayings of my lovely roomie, I have decided to run a 10k on September 24th. It's for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation so I am running for a purpose and not just to get bunny ears. After running a half marathon last year I realize that a 10k is not that big of a deal, but right now to me it is. As someone who has fallen so stagnant in their exercise life to the point of doing nothing it's a big ass deal that I'm going to run 6.2 miles.
I started training (yes, I am training for this) last week which gave me 4 full weeks to prepare myself. Since I have run before I don't think it's ridiculous to think that at the end of a month I'd be able to run a 10k. I'm certainly not going to win the race, but when has that ever been my goal with running? Anyway, with my schedule I'm running 4 times a week with my "big" runs on Saturday. Last week was the first week and man did I want to kill myself. The first day wasn't too bad, but then it went downhill from there. I'm not sure if it was the combination of extreme heat (running when it's almost 90 degrees outside is not fun), my lack of hydration/proper nutrition and being out of shape but whatever it was I was not a happy camper. My 2nd and 3rd runs were the perfect examples of why I generally hate running: I had no stamina, my body felt like shit, my mind was defeated no matter I told it and I never truly felt like I accomplished something. When it came to my 4 mile run on Saturday, I won't make excuses, I never did it. Between drinking, not wanting to do it, being tired and having to work I was able to find a reason not to go. Is it the best thing ever? No. Can I expect myself to be perfect after so much imperfection? No. I messed up, but now I move on.
Today I went for a run and instead of going for 3 miles I decided I'd do 4 since I skipped that this weekend. It was honestly the best run I've ever had in my entire life; a complete 180 from everything last week. My body felt really phenomenal, the temperature was pretty perfect, I got into a groove and my mind was actually wandering while I ran. I started to get a little dehydrated, but I didn't want to stop even for a few seconds because I was worried if I did I'd throw off my rhythm. But even that was never anything too bad. What makes me most proud about this run is the fact that I actually ran all of my 4.3 mile run. I never once stopped to walk for even a little bit. I have never done that in my entire life!! During my half I came up to the Bridge a little after mile 3 and ended up walking for a bit. So not only did I run the whole time, but I even ran a little extra. Honestly, I probably could have kept going. It was that fantastic of a run!!
Ever since coming home I have had the most amazing feeling. Everything about me right now is happy and feeling good. And this right here is the reason why I want to run: to experience this feeling. It's pretty close to being euphoric. I don't expect all of my runs to go like this. I'm sure Wednesday when I run again I'll probably end up needing to stop within the first mile or something because that's the way my life goes. But even when that happens I'll know in my mind that no matter how much I may suck that day there's a possibility that tomorrow is just going to blow me out of the water. So maybe if I keep at this whole running thing on a fairly consistent schedule (even after the 10k) I'll have more of these amazing days and less of the "I want to kill myself" days. Here's hoping!!
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