Who in their right mind enjoys running?

Honestly, in the past I have sworn up and down there was NO WAY I would ever enjoy running. All that hard work, not to mention the damage it can do to your body? Playing sports was way more fun. Swimming too. Even walking was more enjoyable than running. The only thing I liked about running was when it was done. How can that be a good choice of exercise?

But suddenly I'm finding myself wondering if I might actually be able to enjoy running. If you read my previous blog, you see I finally felt a glimpse of feeling good while running. Then on Saturday, I went for my dreaded 5 mile training. I say "dreaded" because that's what I was doing. Dreading it. I fell behind recently in my training when the baby was sick. I didn't think I was ready for 5 miles. But my coach suggested just running what I felt comfortable with (4 miles if that's the case) and walk the rest.

It was incredibly windy on Saturday at 8am for my group training, so I opted to skip it (bad team member). I waited until I thought the wind was a little better and headed out from my house at 2:45. I got about half a mile and wanted to turn around - at least to get a ski mask. The wind was blowing right in my face and it was HORRIBLE. Bitter cold and strong. I fought the urge and continued hoping when I got to the part of my trail that was faced the other way, maybe I would feel better with the wind at my back. It did feel better and I decided to keep going.

I was mostly running during my training. I kept the percentage of 75% in my mind as my goal for running. That would equal running 3.75 miles and walking 1.25. I think I stayed pretty close to that the whole time.

My amazing iPod has a Nike app that can measure how many miles I go. I don't know how it works - it may just be a fancy pedometer - but it worked. When I got home I mapped my run on mapmyrun.com and it was exactly the same as the Nike app. When the app told me I had completed 2 miles, I was surprised. It didn't seem like it had been that long! I was very confident I could continue and finish the 5 miles with no problem.



Not me, but this is about how I looked!



I did run into some snow during my run. It was that pellet-like kind. Almost like little styrofoam balls. And it was blowing right in my eyes. It actually forced me to go down to a walk at one point so I could CLOSE my eyes as I went. I'm glad my race is in May and snow will be very unlikely. But I may need to invest in a baseball hat that will protect my eyes from rain (if it happens).

I continued through my run and found myself running for long spans of time feeling good. The only reason I had to walk at times was because of my bladder issues (again - I definitely need to see a urologist at some point). My legs and my lungs felt much better than I ever would have expected.

My iPod finally told me I had hit 5 miles and I was thrilled. I STILL felt good! I also still had half a mile to go before I got home. So I willingly CHOSE to run the rest of the way. (SOOOOO not something I would have done in the past)

I ended my run at home. I had gone 5.47 miles in 1 hour, 13 minutes. My average mile was 13:30 minutes. Translated to my treadmill, that's a 4.5 mph average WITH walking included. So apparently going 4.0 on my treadmill at home is not doing me justice. I CAN go faster and need to in the future.



After the run I felt amazing. My arch hurt a tiny bit on one foot, but otherwise my body felt great. And I was thrilled. I had actually ENJOYED the run. So much so that I was looking forward to the next one as soon as that one ended! I'm not totally sure this "love of running" will continue. I know everyone has bad runs at times. But I guess as long as I don't quit after a bad run and I keep with it, I MAY have more of these "fun" runs ahead of me!

 Heather - potential runner