Runner's high?

I have to tell you, I'm feeling pretty good right now.

We just arrived back home today from our holiday with the family. We didn't go far, just a short 3 hour drive east to the greater Houston area. Today was my run day, but we didn't have time this morning with all the packing. We told my brother and sister-in-law that we would just run this afternoon. I was thinking, "Yeah, right... we'll run this afternoon... yeah, yeah... that's the ticket!" I thought it was possible. However, more probably, highly unlikely. I snacked on Cheez-its in the car. I drank a Coke. We rolled into town around 4:00. We unloaded the van. And I thought, "No way am I going running."

But my husband said, "Are you ready? How many miles are we doing?"

I sighed and said, "Okay. But we don't have dinner. And I have laundry to do. And what about the kids? And it's going to get dark soon. And we still have to go shopping."

And he said, "Are we going? It's your call."

I said, "Okay, fine. My training plan says my weekday runs should be 4 miles this week. But I think I can only do 3."

He said, "Okay, we'll see. Let's go."

We went. And how far did we go?

4 miles. With hills. Seriously, 4 miles. With hills. I am feeling like a rock star.

Here's the weird part, and I told him the same after we got back -- at no point during that run did I feel bad. Which is weird. Because typically, at some point in all of my runs, even the short ones, some part of me feels bad. My legs, my lungs, my feet, my brain. I'm either tired, achy, twingy (I'm pretty sure this isn't a word - what I mean is the word 'twinge' but in the form of an adjective. It sounds likes a real word when I say it.), breathless, or weak. Something. But this time was just different. And I have no idea why. Seven weeks ago when I ran this same neighborhood route, I just about died.

I tell you, some crazy stuff is happening.

I don't understand it, but I like it, and I hope it keeps happening.

Getting closer

Somehow, it has been two weeks since I last posted. The time has gone by so fast, it's unbelievable. I've had a lot of different experiences since returning from the mountains, and on the whole I would say the outcome has been positive. I'm still running, so I can't complain.

We got back from our Thanksgiving trip on Saturday, November 26. After my "Rocky" moment in the mountains, I really was excited about joining the running group the next day for our 5 mile run. Thankfully, we were meeting in the afternoon, which allowed me to sleep in after our long drive. I felt totally confident to tackle our hilly neighborhood course after my week at altitude! I would like to tell you that I was awesome and sprang up the hills like a gazelle, but you know that isn't true. The hills were still a challenge (of course), but I had a newfound confidence that helped me push through and keep a positive attitude. We ended up doing about 5.3 miles. Woo-hoo!

I was pretty excited after this run and feeling confident. Funnily enough, my following weekday runs were lackluster and my motivation flagged. Weather and who knows what else kept me from the next long run the following Sunday. I intended to make up the long run on Monday, but are you surprised that I didn't?

Which brings us to last week (Dec 5 - 11). My weekday runs were scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday. I tried not to dwell on the failure of missing the long weekend run. I was surprised by my lethargy and absolute lack of motivation on Tuesday. Since it was my run day, I forced myself to go to the track, but it had been a while since I had felt such a strong desire NOT to run and it was disconcerting.

I had the exact same experience on Thursday. No energy. No desire to do anything but sit on my rear end and maybe eat something yummy. But I made myself go anyway, knowing that I would not forgive myself if I didn't keep to the training plan.

The oddest thing about these runs was that on these days, these days of no motivation, I ended up running my fastest pace to-date. I still don't understand that. But it was what I needed to pull me out of my feeling of heaviness and motivate me for the weekend.

This Sunday, our running group met in the morning to do a 5 mile run. As I have mentioned previously, I usually end up lagging behind the group at some point during the run and never seem to catch back up. Miraculously, this week I totally hung with the group! Was I going faster or were they going slower? In the words of my high school English teacher, Mr. Carr, "I don't know and I don't care." No matter, though, it was a thrill, and I wasn't killing myself to keep up. It's the little things like this that provide me with that tiny boost which allows me to continue moving toward my goal.

10 more weeks of training til the big day!