So it’s literally the 11th hour on Daylight Savings Time, and I’ve decided to participate yet again in #NaBloPoMo this year. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve thought about blogging every month since my last post in the Spring, but would feel overwhelmed and move on to some other whim… Anyhoo, there are prompts I can use but I will spend this month catching you up on some notable events in my life this year, since I’ve been MIA.
Today I’ll make this uncomplicated and talk about something in my top-of-mind. Running. (Surprise!)
I have made some great accomplishments this year with my runs, including my half-marathon on “Labor Day Eve.” But as much training and effort as that took, I am just as proud of a much shorter running feat I accomplished yesterday.
I ran a mile on the treadmill at a challenging pace nonstop for 10 minutes. For me, that is a huge deal. I think my intermittent progression runs of 1-2 miles have helped me with this. I even ran at hotels when I traveled last month.
I did a half to check it off my to-do list, thinking I’d never want to do another. But I probably will. Next time though, I’ll see if I can get into a group training program to use a coach. And I will also finish all my long runs so that I half feels a little easier (I stopped at 10, thinking that was good enough based on advice I got from a few other runners). During the race, when I hit 10 miles during the race, my legs started screaming at me.
What I am grateful for is choosing a place where I had family support. My mom and sissy were there to cheer me on, even though it was hot and sticky. Training in hilly Hotlanta helped my effort, but I still did a lot worse pace-wise than I planned. I saw the 2:30 and the 2:45 pacers pass me eventually, and…. oh well. I finished. I did it!
