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| During one of the walking intervals of my program, 5/8. |
A friend of mine, Christine, and I thought it would be fun to run together. She's a new runner also, but she's been doing it for a month or two longer than me, with a group of other people, and with way more intensity than I have been. Between each of our schedules, we decided Wednesday was the best day for us to get together. Now, when I agreed to run on that Wednesday, I really didn't take into consideration that Wednesdays are my normal running days. I just went along with my normal schedule and ran my week 3, day 2 run that day - which I killed, by the way! Felt like I could keep going! :)
So anyway, after work I changed back into my (still wet from sweat!) running clothes and headed over to her house. Since I had already completed my program run for the day, this was going to be a just 'whatever goes' kind of extra run.
{Something to consider here, up until this point, I had been running completely alone. Three weeks earlier when I first began this journey, the thought of running alongside someone else made me cringe. The LAST thing I wanted to do was have someone join me only to be held back by my (lack of) speed. Besides that, I look terrible in my running clothes - all clingy and such. Not to mention the jiggle. There. I said it. I jiggle! I don't want other people to be witness to my jiggle! But I decided to get over it and run with a friend. So I feel like that was another milestone that I reached!}
From her house, we walked down the neighborhood street out to the main road - a couple of minutes, max - and started running. The biggest difference I noticed, aside from having a friend alongside me, was that I could actually hear myself breathing. If you read my last post, you'll remember that I mentioned that that's something I didn't really WANT to be able to do. But since I was with a friend this evening, it was only natural not to run to music, therefore keeping my ears unplugged. What a difference! As much as I love running to music and as much as I utilize it to keep me going, actually hearing my breathing really helped me find my rhythm made it easier to keep going. So I focused a lot on that comfortable rhythm of inhales and exhales, and chatted a bit here and there. At about .9 miles, I said I'd go until 1 mile and then I'd need to walk a bit. Oh, and a potty break. Forgot to go before leaving the house! lol But did you see what I said? I'd need walking break at one mile! I JUST RAN A MILE STRAIGHT WITHOUT WALKING! Oh yeah! I didn't even know I had it in me! This, the girl who just a week ago couldn't run 3 minutes without needing a walking break, just ran A FULL MILE!!
So we walked the block back to her house and had our potty break. And then she asks me, "Did you want to keep going, or do you want to call it good?" Here's my out. I can call it good here and not feel too much guilt because #1, I already successfully did my regular run, and #2, I just ran way longer than I ever have and I'm currently on a pretty major high. Call it good? HECK NO! "I'm not done yet!" So we walked back out to do the same route.
I found that after a certain point shortly after starting this second "lap", I wasn't able to really converse and breathe at the same time, so she kept talking to me, gently coaxing me along, reminding me to focus on my breathing (wait.. was I running, or giving birth? lol) and to just keep going. And I did. My legs were starting to feel like cement, and it was getting harder to pick my feet up, but I did. And once again, at the 1 mile mark, we called it good and took a nice slow walk back to her house where a yummy Hawaiian chicken and rice dinner was waiting for us.
So on this day, May 8, 2013, with the help of my dear friend, I found the strength to reach a new milestone. With each day that I run, I am learning that I am capable of more and more.
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