It's fine. I ran today.

So all I really managed to do on my run tonight was finish. That is all and nothing more. And that's okay. 

• My breathing was super heavy (had pain in my ribs in fact).
• My legs were like giant cylinders filled with lead (I was rocking out to Metallica on the headphones thinking to myself "I have heavy metal legs").
• It was muggy and the air was THICK (curse you mother nature, bring back the cold front).
• My feet are dumb and decided to slide around in my shoes, which wasn't real pleasant (yes I have "new" shoes with only 49.9 miles on them, they're just babies for crying out loud).

Bottom line, this was one of those runs that made me question why I do this to myself. As I'm plodding along at a snail's pace with lead legs, I'm thinking "13.1 miles, really?". But I've done it before, and I know I can do it again. Runs like this happen. They're not fun, they're painful at times, but 3 miles is 3 miles. And I was pleasantly surprised with my pace (13'36"/mile). In the heat of the moment when you feel like you'll die if you take another step, it feels like you are the slowest person on the planet. Then the Nike app tells you that you are dead wrong after the run is over by showing you that you weren't in fact plodding along at an abysmal pace after all. Nike app is like "way to go, you did it, great job, blah blah blah".

I took two things away from this run.

1. A 12 minute mile and a 6 minute mile are the same distance, doesn't matter how fast you get it done, it only matters that you get your mileage in and follow the training program. It never gets easier, you just get stronger step by step, mile by mile.
2. I need to start running earlier in the day. Taking off at 7:30 pm isn't going to cut it anymore as the sun is going down earlier now and I have a newfound fear of snakes lurking in the dark waiting to jump out at me on the sidewalk when I least expect it.

Bottom line; I finished! I set out to run 3 miles tonight, and as much as it sucked, I completed what I set out to do!!! Trust me, I wanted to quit at several points during tonight's run, but I didn't, and that's all that counts (yes, that helps me sleep better at night).

In the end it's all good:

Here's hoping for better runs this week!

MIND OVER MATTER