running away

Nope, I'm not running away from home ... but you might have noticed I haven't hung around my blog lately. That's because I've been running a lot over the past two weeks as a test of my will to run ... and honestly it couldn't go any better. So without further ado ... I am ready to say publicly that I've committed myself to running my second half marathon.

Laziness I had to face the facts - since I ran the Shamrock Half Marathon, my running has been practically nonexistent. I've been spending more time with my boyfriend, who, bless him, isn't the healthiest creature in the world. I sleep in more ... we go on dates to restaurants ... it is a vicious cycle when I am not as active as I was during training. I love the fact that we are what you would call a Serious Couple, but it has wreaked havoc on my running schedule. I thought I would want to run just to run, but that hasn't happened. I would take Gracie on long walks under the guise of a workout, but I realize that I used that as a crutch to avoid running - it was too hot, she couldn't keep up or she wanted to stop and smell things, etc.

Physically Selfishly, I hate seeing myself in pictures right now. I think my face looks more round. I think about how happy I was with the way I looked a year ago, and I just get depressed about how different I look now. I get the same (slightly disgusted) reaction I get when I look at pictures of my bloated self during my senior year of college, and it's certainly a motivator to go out and run. I have been down in the dumps a lot lately, and as superficial as it is, I know it's in part because of my body and how I'm disappointed in myself for not keeping off the 20-plus pounds I lost more than a year ago.

Mentally I don't know how to describe it, but running is a mental release. It's like charging my phone battery ... or that feeling of satisfaction when you slide the last piece in the puzzle. Once I get moving, after even just a third of a mile, I get in the best mood. Today, I just wanted to stay out there forever - I had a route all planned out (in fact, I usually leave it up on my computer screen in case for some reason I don't return, and then someone will know where to look for me. Crazy or smart? You decide.), but traffic was nuts on Brambleton Avenue and I couldn't cross it, so I diverted from my plan because I was itching to keep moving, I didn't want to lose my groove. I ran along Brambleton, heading opposite all the busy cars, and I sprinted at the end of my burst, and it was great. Before today, I hadn't really had that great burst of a good mood from running since the half marathon, and it was just so awesome. I really missed it.

I realize this will take away from my knitting time (not that I was super fast to begin with ... ) but I'm fine with that - in fact, I think knitting could be a reward for the running I plan on doing (I've been doing it 4x a week, and I plan on keeping it that way). I haven't committed financially, but I plan on doing that in a couple weeks. I plan on running the Turkey Trot (10K - that's 6.2 miles) on Thanksgiving, if my training keeps progressing as planned. I think I'm really going to stick with this, though - I even ran a few miles in the pouring down rain last Thursday and it was so great. I've come up with a training schedule that really flows with my work schedule - I plan on doing a 3-mile run every Saturday, a medium-ish run on Mondays, a 3-miler on Tuesdays, and my weekly long run on Thursdays (my day off work). That gives me my second day off to recuperate once I get up there in mileage. I know I will be slightly less motivated when it gets super cold, but I've already seen progress since the 5K a week and a half ago. Keep your fingers crossed for me!