Just keep on runnin'

I’M BAACCKK!! So excited to be back running this week! It’s amazing how you miss the pain that comes with running when you can’t do it J I also think we should’ve all invested stock into Kleenex last week because I went through 4 giant boxes!  Did you know that if you get the red ring around your nose from blowing it so much that you should put Neosporin on it? I had no idea, but it worked. Thanks Dr. Will!

This week, we have to fit in a 5 mile, 8 mile, 4 mile and a 12 mile long run. JB is leaving us and going to soak up the sun in Cancun this week, so we had to rearrange our schedule a bit.

Monday – 5 miles - this was a fast 5 mile run.  JB, Alison and I were joined by Lisa, Jamie and Jen.  What a blessing to be able to run in January on a 55 degree day! JB and Alison finished fast at around a 9:10 pace, followed by Jen (who did AWESOME!!) and myself and Jamie. Lisa finished a 2.5 mile run and she did awesome too! Good run.

Tuesday – 8 miles - With the upcoming colder weather, we considered running our 12 mile run this night, but thought we’d see how 8 miles felt first. Once again, we had amazing weather for our run. JB, Alison and I started at the old Jr. High building and were met by Jenny. On Washington, we were joined by Dawn, John and Anna. It’s always a blessing and a curse to see these faster runners. We are blessed to see them because we love them so much, but cursed because we know we are in for a faster run. Funny, we always talk about that, but we always keep up with them in some fashion. So… maybe we are faster than what we think? Although they probably slow down for us! Makes us feel accomplished either way. J After 8 miles, we decided going 8 was plenty far and we would hold off on 12 until Thursday. 

Thursday – 12 mile long run – Well, since it was freezing cold and blowing 30 mph, we decided to flip flop our runs so that we would do our 4 mile run tonight and then do the long run this weekend. Unless you’re superwoman aka JB who decided to run 12 miles on a treadmill!!! How the heck do you run for 2 hours on a treadmill? Only if you’re JB and you’re awesome! Wow… Alison and I did our 4 mile run on the treadmill and for me it was ridiculously hard. Alison said she felt good, and JB said it was brutal to run that far on a treadmill.  Feel like a giant hamster running in a wheel when we have to run on the treadmill with nothing to look at. It's so difficult! I guess treadmill running works on that mental strength that we'll need for that our 26 miles? Positivity!

Saturday – 12 mile long run – Gorgeous day to run this Saturday. We started at 9 am from the Jr. High. Myself, Alison, Kelli Barton, Jen and Jeannette began the route. Running down A street we ran into the 7 mile group and they were kicking butt!! So great to see so many running on Saturday mornings. Whether it's a few or 7 miles, good to get out and do it! High fives to Lisa, Carmen and Mitzi as they were finishing up their 7 miles. AWESOME! We were joined by Anna, Dawn and Jenny about 1 mile in. Kelli, Alison and I ran the full 12, the others ran 4-6 miles. We love to have people join in with us during our long runs as it gives us something to look forward to. Especially if we have new runners at the end of our long run, it helps the time/mileage go by much faster. We finished our 12 mile run in under 2 hours of total running time (we didn't include drink stops) Alison is still having back pain and trying to figure out how to make that better. Although Doc Gill says she needs to work on getting her butt muscles stronger :) Funny how certain muscles affect us in different ways? Kelli finished 12 with us and this was her longest run ever. She did awesome! And she helped motivate me at the end when I was dying. I did walk a few times this run. Wind was brutal, but I was OK with walking as I just felt like I had to at the time. Sometimes you just feel like you need to walk and it depends on how you feel mentally whether or not you beat yourself up about it. Sometimes when you give in to your mind telling you that you must walk, you kick yourself later. Other times, you accept what it is and move forward. Next week is our longest mileage week. We will be running a 4, 9, 5 and an 18 mile long run....AHHHHH!! Wish us luck :)

Quote for the Day:  "There's no magic to running far or climbing Everest. Endurance is mental strength. It's all about heart."
- Bear Grylls