Determined

Today I completed 5 miles for the first time in several months.

 

It wasn't my fastest but also wasn't my slowest either.  I started out running 4 years ago at a 12:00 min/mile pace.  I ran my first half marathon in 2:40 in 2010.  I was ecstatic with those results at that time but I have also taken nearly 50 minutes off of that time since then.  We all have to start somewhere that's what I tell everyone who is "amazed" at my running or feels like they could never run as fast or as far as me.  (Disclaimer:  I am not fast in my eyes but do have the determination to run far as far as I feel like anyway.)

I ran at ye olde alma mater today.

I live really close to my old high school so it's convenient.  This is also where I trained for that first half, oh so many years ago.  I was naïve and inexperienced but I was determined.  I ran up to 12 miles on this track and around this parking lot.  I didn't realize that there were other places to run and that there was such a large running community right here.

Five miles on a track sounds reee-donkulous to anyone who isn't a track star, much less 12.  I am not anywhere near a track star, nor was I ever.  I never ran track in high school or college.  In fact, I didn't start running until 4 years ago, at the age of 26, after the end of a 4-year tumultuous relationship.  I wouldn't say that I started running to get through that.  It just kinda happened.

The freedom that I gained through running made me realize that I was so much more than I had been being.  (Not sure if that's grammatically correct, but whatever.)  I had let myself become trapped and now I was free.  That's a great feeling.  A feeling that I have been missing since my tendinitis flare up and struggle to get back to running.  I didn't realize how much I needed that feeling of me, running, pushing my body and my mind.

Today, I finished 5 miles.  Ask anyone who knows me.  Five miles is my favorite training distance.  Not too far but far enough to get to that satisfying pace and rhythm.  I wasn't sure if I would make it.  That's why I ran at the track.  I didn't want to get 2.5 miles away from my car and not have a way back.  I was safe at the track.  I could stop whenever I wanted needed to.  I won't say that there weren't hiccups, because there were a few times I thought I had hit that point of not pushing it any further.

But I finished.  When my watch hit 5.00 I threw my hands up in the air like I had just finished a marathon.  You know the move.  I am glad no one else was out there because they may have wondered what race I was running on my own.  Ha!  I walked to where I had left my stuff and stretched that hamstring like no other so that I could make it to run another day.  Then I may or may not have had a solo dance party to some Christina.

I am determined.  I am determined to run. I am determined to finish.  I will get back to where I was but it's going to take some work on my part and I'm ready.

And that's not all that made my day great!  I got home to this wonderful package!  I can't wait to run the relay next weekend wearing these shirts.  If you're interested in a shirt, let me know!  I can hook you up with Beth at runningintheword.com.  (She's awesome, btw)

What are you struggling with right now?

What do you love about running?

How have you gotten over injuries?

P.S. Isn't Fall beautiful?