Running

Some of you may already know this but training for the red rock relay has Not been easy by any means. Two kids, adult responsibilities and life tend to make Training more difficult. I say Training, because I don't mean Running. Running is easy for me. When I want to do it, I do. But Training is something else...especially training over an extended amount of time. I started this training many months ago and honestly, I burnt myself out. It started out great, the first few months, I saw real progress in leaps and strides (no pun intended). But I also started seeing major negative effects to my training which put some things in perspective for me. To become disabled in any way at my age just wouldn't be worth it to me. So, I took a few weeks off to see if my body could recover a little. I didn't stop some of my other exercises (the not so strenuous ones) but running was put on hold. I also really wanted to see if the "Desire" to run would come back to me. It did!! That was a relief. I love running but on my terms not any one else's (something I've learned). I need/want that sudden urge to go for a run just because. For those that don't know, that negative effect I refer to is the problems I started having with my knee, mostly just one, probably the result of how I run. But it was affecting me in my every day living which throws up a red flag for me, hence the three week absence.

The nice thing is, I went for a run yesterday. It was hard but nice. I run wouldn't be a true one if it didn't come with the thoughts to stop, can't go anymore, it hurts too much. My run came with all of those but I pushed through it and felt good at the end of it aside from the heat I was dealing with. And even better, I felt good the next day too. My knee has been fine, considering it all. I'm hoping it will last. I still plan to finish out my training, I just plan to do it differently from here on out. It's on my terms now!

I'm not giving up any opportunities to run this relay. I want to say that I did it! I don't need any record times, just the completion of a goal I set out to do. I'm excited for that much. This has been a great learning experience for me, but I'll save all that for another day. One more month- that's it! I can't believe how fast it's come.