To Run...

So as i woke up from a 3 hour nap with my daughter and my husband, I was truly thinking of a lazy Sunday and just laying around. Then I remembered that I was to begin training today. Ugh. It's cloudy, a bit cold, and who was I going to run with? David had sprained his ankle during softball on Saturday. Well, good thing I have a cheerleader or two under my roof. David encouraged me to go so I dug through the laundry piled on the guest bed searching for anything that could be remotely comfortable while running for 30 minutes. By the way, I had vowed to never be that person, the clean laundry piled on the bed person. Oh well.

So I trudge out to the car to get my running shoes on and I take a deep breath and I think about the cancer patients that I met on Saturday. Who am I kidding? The thousands of people that have cancer and are unable to go out for a run on a brisk Sunday would give anything to be in my shoes. I quickly shake off the image as to ward off tears and make my way walking fast to the end of the street for my warm up. I set my timer for 15 minutes and I set out jogging.

I took pictures along the way and imagined my send-off party that I would throw myself. I thought about the children that I read about online and the adults I met at REI on Saturday and felt myself welling with tears again. All of these thoughts basically made it easier to go the distance and to keep pushing. Thank goodness Drowning Pool came on the IPod basically telling me to get my butt in gear and to just do it. No excuses.

It took some mental coaching to run the entire time but I did it. I ran 2 miles in 30 minutes. A pathetic 15 minute mile. However, after looking at my pacing card, this was the first time that I realized and KNEW that I could do this and I will.