Aboite New Trails

Tonight, we had our group training at Aboite New Trails (ANT). Their association wanted to do a photo shoot of how people use the trails. So, we ran up and down the sidewalk that is a small part of the wonderful trail system there, while Gail took many photos that will be used on their website.

What a great trail system and parks the community has on the southwest side of Fort Wayne! For all the advantages that we have living the quiet country life, I wish we lived close to this. I would definitely take advantage of the trails by not only using them for running, but also for walking and cycling.


Next week starts a new phase in our training. We'll only meet once a week now, at the Jorgenson YMCA on Monday evenings.

_________________
Photos by Gail Herendeen

An Open Letter to Carolyn

Dear Carolyn,

Thank you for responding with a comment to my last blog post. I thought about answering it with another comment of my own, but what I have to say to you got to be quite long, so here it is in blog post form. I hope you don't mind.

First of all, stick with it! I have to tell you, if you haven't guessed it already, I don't like running either. Never have. BUT. I signed up for this because I wanted to get in better physical shape and that is happening. It's a very well-known fact that I have done no form of regular exercise for many, many years. So many that I have to stop and think and count.

I used to get out of breath just running up the stairs. Many days, it was an effort just to breathe. Oh, I still have an occasional day like that, but they are far fewer in number. And you know that 2.8 miles we ran last night? Never was I gasping for air, in fact, Romie and I carried on an occasional conversation as we ran. Who would have guessed we would be doing this after only three months? Remember, we started out walking just 20 minutes a day.

If you can find someone to run with, it makes it so much more enjoyable. I can't stress this enough. You encourage each other and you have someone who understands your pain. You can whine all you want to a non-runner and they'll say, "Oh, I could never do what you're doing," yet if they've never run before, they don't even know what it is that they could never do. I know, because I was once like them.

Does that mean it's all unpleasant? No. Does that mean that you'll never have a bad running day or even a bad running week? No. Last night, I was so pleased with myself, it made up for several bad days. Maybe running makes you bi-polar. LOL.

The highs are high, and the lows are low, but in the end it's all about what you want for yourself, and for me, that's a healthy me. Plus, it will feel good to say that I completed a half-marathon, even if it's the only one I ever run. I already feel good that I've been able to run a 5K and I'm getting ready to run another one next Saturday. The good will outweigh the bad and keep you going.

A couple people (I'm related to them) have remarked to me that my running blog has so much negativity in it. For sure, I've been very open about how I feel at various times and it's not all good. Normally, I'm a very positive person, but even positive thinkers have down times. The difference is, we don't let it defeat us or divert us from our purpose.

I include those not-so-positive experiences because it's kind of like when I had my first baby. Romie and I took Lamaze classes and our instructor was excellent, but I came away from there thinking that the breathing techniques would take away the pain of labor, and that there would be no pain at all between contractions. I wish someone would have told me that just isn't true! It wouldn't have come as such a shock and disappointment.

Would I have decided not to have another baby after going through that? Well, Jenna is proof that Kara would never be an only child past the age of 2½. The hard work that feels as though it will never end was eventually worth it in ways that I can't even count. And so it is with running. I don't know if I could even list all the ways that this has been a good thing. But I also want people to know that the negative aspects of it are a normal part of things. I don't think you'll come away from my running blog disillusioned.

That being said, everyone's experience is different. My pain is different from your pain. Everyone has a different tolerance for that, as well as for fatigue and endurance and each has different levels of energy, drive, and motivation. Outside activities get in the way and there will likely always be something else you'd rather be doing. But make the time to run.

If you truly want to be a daily runner, accept that it won't be easy to reach that level. You know what they say, nothing worth doing or having is ever easy. But you've mastered the first step: - you've got the desire and that will take you places and sustain you through the tough days.

My goals change as my body dictates. I listen when it says I've overdone it and I rest for two days rather than one. If I'm still feeling a bit sore, I cut back the time of extended running to maybe 10 minutes, walk one, then 10 more, and so on. I'm at a fitness level now that in just a few days I feel like I'm back to normal and can run like I did before. No one said you have to do it a certain way and not stray from it.

You know what you want, and I know you can achieve it. It's good to have a goal like you do, but don't beat yourself up if you don't get there when you thought you would. You will get there, and I don't think the world is going to end before you do, so hang in there and I'll bet one day you'll look back and be amazed at what you've accomplished. Every little thing you do towards your goal is something you didn't do before. YAY!!

So don't mind me if I whine now and then. I have to do it somewhere and I know the runners that read this totally know where I'm coming from. We're all in it together, no matter what level we're at, aren't we? If I can do this, anyone can.

Keep running!

Kylee

Grab Your Partner, Do-Si-Do...

One of my goals has been to eventually run around the square. In our part of the country, the country roads are laid out in mile squares, so running around them is four miles. The square we live on is a little less - 3.8 miles - due to part of the road being diverted around a creek.

Ashley and I didn't run after work today because she had a softball game, so shortly after I got home, Romie and I ran together. The temperature was perfect and it was a nice sunny day, so we decided to do the Square Dance, which is what I call this "running around the square."

The light wind was out of the northeast, so we headed north first. About .3 miles later, we turned the corner and headed west. Our first goal was to make it to the end of that mile without stopping. With the wind behind us, it wasn't too difficult, although Romie mentioned he wasn't having much fun.

We both made it to the corner, turned south and about .25 into that mile, I knew Romie's attitude had changed when he said to me, "I'm in the zone now." I knew exactly what he meant. We set our next goal as the next intersection. That would mean that we had run 2.3 miles without stopping. No problem!

We turned the corner and headed east. Now the wind was in our faces, but it was pretty light, so it wasn't much of a factor. Fatigue was making its appearance, so we set a shorter goal of reaching the "Stop Ahead" sign (for the stop sign we'd just passed). We made it to that, then added first one telephone pole, then another, until we neared the only house on that road.

At this point, I looked at my watch and it was nearing thirty minutes, so we decided to stop when thirty minutes were up. That brought us to the house, where we stopped and walked the rest of the way home.

WOW. We both had run thirty minutes without stopping. Oh, we could feel it when we stopped to walk, but a few minutes of walking and things felt pretty good. Had we pushed ourselves? Yes, but time will tell if we did too much. Neither of us was very winded, but we could definitely feel it in our legs.

When we got home, we got in the car to see just how far we'd run without stopping. TWO POINT EIGHT MILES!! That's very nearly a 5K, which is 3.1 miles. I just can't believe it. I can remember days when Romie and I thought we were getting good exercise by riding our bikes around the square.

The bar has definitely been raised.

114.5

Beautiful Day For Running!

This was such a beautiful day - blue skies, warm temperatures, light breezes. It doesn't get much better than this for outdoor activities.

It's Memorial Day weekend and we've been working like crazy people in the garden, but at the end of the day today, Romie and I changed into our running attire and took to the road. I'm so thankful that he runs with me sometimes. It's so much better running with someone than running alone.

We were pretty tired starting out, so we set goals of running ten minutes, walking one, running ten, walking one. Romie had to stop at five, since he hadn't been running much in the last couple of weeks, but I actually made it to fifteen minutes before stopping. After walking for one, I ran ten more minutes, then we both walked the rest of the way home.

The Metric System

We had our last session of training at the ASH Centre tonight. We'll continue with our training at the Jorgenson Branch YMCA on June 2nd and be meeting just once a week from then on. We'll be transitioning to training by distance rather than minutes, with the culmination of all of this being completing 13.1 miles on September 27th.

Jamey introduced some new training exercises tonight called plyometrics. For a detailed explanation of plyometrics (read: more than you wanted to know), check it out on Wikipedia. These involve jumping in place - on both feet, on one foot, scissoring our feet as we jump, etc. Jumping rope is a plyometric exercise. They require coordination and balance, and I don't have much of either one of those, but maybe I'll develop some by doing these.

We won't meet on Memorial Day, but next Thursday we'll be doing our training outside at Aboite Trails. There will be photographs taken which may be used on their website. It will be fun to be outside running together as a group.

After training tonight, Romie had run to the Centre from Jenna and Joe's apartment, and we ran back there together. They're in Mexico on their honeymoon and we cleaned their apartment for them so they could come home to a nice clean home.

The Greenway

Ashley and I got back to running together after work. Bad weather or prior obligations on Wednesday evenings had prevented us from it for three weeks. Though I'd been back to regular running for a week or so, I struggled as much as Ashley, who hadn't run at all for the last two weeks.

We ran down to Moser Park, where the River Greenway path starts. We ran until we'd passed our halfway mark of 15 minutes, then turned around and headed back to the office. It's beautiful along the Greenway, and we decided we'll just drive down there the next time and do all of our running along it.

I told Ashley I was going to run the New Haven Canal Days 5K and she said she wanted to run it, too. It's good to have a purpose to running and since that race is on June 7th, this will help motivate us to stick with our regular runs, both on Wednesdays and the rest of the time in between.

I don't do well with long-term goals. I'm a "I want it and I want it now" kind of person when it comes to things like this. I want to be a runner that is in such good shape that it's not a struggle to go out and run a few miles every day, and it's not like that yet. But when I look back on how it was the first few weeks of starting this adventure, I can see the progress I've made and it's amazing.

Refocusing

In the past couple of weeks, my attentions have been flitting from one thing to another and I'm not good at switching gears. I do best when I can concentrate on one thing, to the exclusion of everything else. Unlike many women, I don't multitask well.

Now that Jenna's wedding is over, I can devote more of my thoughts and efforts to getting back on track with my running. It's taken me longer to rest up from the festivities of the weekend than I expected, but I'm not sure I will ever truly be rested.

I drove to Jenna and Joe's apartment prior to training, did some stretching and ran to the ASH Centre. It took me about 10:30 to get there, and once I was there, I kept right on running, doing laps in the gym. After another ten minutes of running, I took a break. The rest of the group got there shortly after, and as usual, we ran/walked for ten minutes to warm up. I ran it, which meant that I'd done my 30 minutes for the day.

We then went through our core strengthening exercises together, then talked about the Warbird 5K that several members of our group had run on Saturday. It sounds like it was a good experience for everyone, better than most expected it to be. Barb E. even came in third in her age group and got a trophy!

Jamey said we were going to begin to transition to training by distance rather than time in the next couple of weeks. We'll also only meet once a week as a group, on Mondays, beginning in June. He said if we knew of a 5K event and wanted to run in it, to go for it. Barb mentioned a 5K being held during New Haven Canal Days that she wanted to run and I told her I'd run it with her. That's on June 7th.

I left to run back to Jenna's, but I didn't run it without stopping this time. I walked for a couple of minutes, and made it back to her apartment in 11:30. I was exhausted, but glad that I'd had a good workout.

113

Warbird or Lovebirds?

Today, some members of our training group are running the Warbird 5K as the first organized race we've run as a group. I so wanted to participate, but something more important was planned for the day. Our younger daughter Jenna is getting married.

Last weekend, I'd asked her (in jest) if she would be upset if I ran a 5K the morning of her wedding. She turned to look at me with that look that shoots daggers and said quite loudly, "Mom, I think my wedding is a little more important than your running."

Ya think? ;-)

The Morning News

This morning, I awoke at 4:00 a.m., a time I rarely see at the beginning of my day. (I'm a hopeless night owl.) I had to leave home by 5:00 a.m. to be at Jamey's office in Fort Wayne at 6:00, for taping of a running tips segment for Indiana's News Center Channel 21, the ABC affiliate in Fort Wayne that is the sponsor of our training group.

I was joined by Terry and Rhonda while Jamey demonstrated some ways to use a big ball to help with core strengthening exercises. The whole segment didn't take more than a couple of minutes to do, and was filmed live with a several seconds delay.

Click on photo to go to Channel 21's page of all fitness
videos, then click on the one you want to view.

Once we finished, we walked across the street to Starbucks, where Jamey treated us to a drink. I don't like coffee or tea, so what do you get to drink in a coffee shop like that? I chose a delicious carbonated clementine drink called Izze.

Due to the ever-rising cost of gas, I chose to stay in town today since we also had a training session later. Jenna lives nearby and is off work until after her honeymoon. She and Joe will be married on Saturday, so we spent the day running necessary errands that needed to be done before the wedding.

We returned to her apartment around 3:00 p.m. and I took a short nap. Around 4:30, I decided I would run from her apartment to the ASH Centre, where we train. I ran there without stopping, which took 10:33. Brian led us in station core training for the next hour, then I ran back to Jenna's. It took me 10:22 going back.

I'm not sure if I'll do any running or not, until after the wedding this Saturday. We'll see how things go. I'm just not going to stress myself a whole lot by trying to fit things into my schedule that really don't fit. It's not every day that your baby girl gets married.

The Morning After

Legs tired. Not sore though. Taking the day off...

Decisions, Decisions

It was a beautiful day today, and likely the only nice one suitable for gardening left in the week. So, I had a choice to make: Run early alone, while I had the energy for it, then do my gardening work, or do the gardening and wait for Romie to run with me when he got home. He had wanted me to wait.

I tried to pace myself in the garden, so that I didn't completely exhaust myself, but I had a shrub to plant, sod to remove, soil to amend, other plants to plant, deadheading, weeding, applying fertilizer, mulch to spread, and so on and so forth. To add to things, I hadn't slept AT ALL last night; I only had gotten a few 10-15 minute naps in, as I tossed and turned all night. It wasn't looking good for the running. Again.

I revisited that nagging fear that I was too easily going to slip back into my recent bout with not running, before I'd even gotten back into running on a more regular basis. Before I knew it, Romie was home and gave me the choice: gardening or running. I needed his help with some things, so once again, running got put on the back burner.

*sigh*

Around 7:30, we started putting the tools away and headed into the house to get cleaned up for the night and find something to eat for supper. It was nearly time for American Idol, which I didn't want to miss, so I didn't have time to get a shower before it started, and I waited.

As I sat there watching Idol and eating grapes, I thought to myself that I could run after Idol was over. It wouldn't be that dark, the temperature was perfect (65°), the earlier wind had died down, and best of all, I knew if I ran tonight I wouldn't have to run tomorrow, when we were expecting rain.

So while David Cook wrapped up his final song, I stretched. As the credits rolled on the TV screen, I strapped on my watch and headed out the door. Romie had already showered and eaten, so he didn't run, but he accompanied me on his bike.


I headed north, which meant there would be not a single thing to occupy my mind except counting the telephone poles along the way. Farm fields on either side, a few road signs ... just the straight road ahead of me, with no end to it in sight.

I quickly got into a rhythm of breathing (which was back to normal, thank goodness) and concentrated on keeping my core stable and pushing off with my thighs while relaxing my calves. I'd discovered a few weeks ago that I could run better and farther by doing this, which is what Jamey had been trying to teach us all along. But as I get tired, I find myself relying more on my calves for strength and have to concentrate harder on using my thighs. Bigger muscles can handle it better.

I passed the second stop sign, which meant I'd run about 1.4 miles without stopping. I looked at my watch and was surprised to see what time it displayed. I kept going nearly half a mile more, until I thought it best to stop and walk a bit. I'd skimmed the road a couple of times with the toe of my shoe as I brought my right foot forward in my stride and I knew that I was tired and in danger of tripping.

My watch read 17:00.

At this point, I was feeling pretty good about myself. I turned around to go back towards home, walked for two minutes, then took up running again. It was hard. I felt like I wouldn't make it more than a few minutes, but soon got into a rhythm again. Setting a goal of six minutes, I made it to ten. I walked for another minute, then ran for another.

It was at this point that Romie cautioned me not to push it, and I knew he was right. I walked the rest of the way home, which was about half a mile, and immediately went upstairs to a hot tub of water. I did some of my stretching in the bathtub and by the time I was done, I seriously could have fallen asleep and spent the night there.

This was the longest continual run I've ever done outside, this 17 minutes. Not even during the 5K had I run that long without stopping to walk. It felt pretty good, too. I remember what Roger had said to me last night at training, "You look like you could just run forever." Tonight, I almost felt like that.

I Just Put On My Big Girl Panties

I think I've got my head on straight again. Once I realized that it's okay to have little setbacks as long as I don't let them get me down so much that I want to give up, it was a huge relief to me. For the past week or more, I've been fighting with myself. There's been this nagging voice in the back of my head saying, "Get out there! You've got to run today! You'll fall behind if you don't!" and all it accomplished was to make me want to scream, "NO. I don't want to! Be quiet!"

Several of us talked last night at training about how many of us were raised with such a work ethic that if you don't give 110% to whatever you do, it's not enough. I've always felt if I can't do something well and be one of the best at it, then why do it?

Dental hygienists are notoriously perfectionistic. Nine times out of ten, they're overachievers and always have been. Anything less than an 'A' just won't do. They tend to follow the rules to a fault. Now Jamey would argue that I haven't always followed them, and well, it's true - I did run a 5K before I was supposed to, but it's just that the opportunity presented itself and I treated it as just another running day. I didn't try to win it, I just wanted to run it. (How's that for justification?)

But this whole running venture is another thing altogether. It's okay to want to win, but that isn't why I wanted to be a part of the training for the half-marathon. It wasn't for the race that I applied, it was the training. Just being physically fit enough to run/walk the half-marathon will be the reward of the hard work we are all putting in up until that time.

Without Jamey's direction, expertise, and encouragement, none of us would be where we are, no matter where each of us is in our training level. We are each individuals and we will reach our own personal goals at a pace that our bodies and minds allow. For me, I feel like it's my mind that has been giving me the most trouble lately.

However, once I stopped being so hard on myself and realized that I will eventually 'get there,' even if it's slower than I like, it was like a load off my mind. It just took me a couple of weeks to figure that out.

Whew.

New Strategy

Here's my new tack - act like I'm a runner. Play the part. Dress the part. Be the road. (What?) I'm setting new goals for myself and putting them on the refrigerator where I can see them. Short-term goals, like what I want to accomplish by the end of this week, not the end of next month.

Since I've been lazy - no...wait...I take that back. I've not been lazy, just busy doing other things. I've been doing physical labor, just not running as much as I'm supposed to. Since I've not been running, I'm going to have to start over, kind of. I haven't lost all the ground I've gained, but surely some of it, so I'll scale back my expectations to something a little more realistic so that I don't get overly discouraged.

Today I decided to try running before noon. I'm not a morning person by any means, but once I'm up, I'm up. I'm not one of those people who stumble around with a gloomy face, grunting when I'm asked a question. No...when I'm up, my mouth is open. Big shock, huh? It used to drive my girls NUTS when we were all in the bathroom getting ready for work or school. Neither one of them is a morning person.

"Mom! How can you always be in such a good mood???" I asked them if they'd rather I always be in a bad one. But yeah, I'm sure it was annoying to them when I was trying to carry on a full-fledged conversation at 6:30 in the morning.

Anyway ... it was in the 40s and windy here this morning, so I decided I would do my running on the newly-repaired treadmill in the cool basement. That would be a little easier on me anyway and maybe I could do more. At 4.6 mph, I ran for nine minutes, while watching I Love Lucy on TVLand. It was tough, and I was drenched with sweat (steroids again?), as well as rather winded, but I made it. I walked two minutes, then started running again. I wanted to quit at three minutes, but persisted until I'd finished seven.

At that point, I could barely breathe and my chest was burning. My hair was soaked with sweat, my face felt like it was going to explode, and sweat was running down my legs. (Yes, it was sweat. LOL.) I walked a little bit more and decided to call it a day. I'd done more than I really felt like doing and tomorrow, I'll attempt to do even more.

At least I'm doing something, and I've got a plan. One way or another, I'll get back on track.

113

Woe Is Me

It was a pretty day today and Romie and I had a lot to do before the girls came home later in the day for Mother's Day. So a little while after breakfast, we both took to the road for a run. I hadn't gone 30 seconds and I was winded. What was going on??? Thursday night, in the rain, I didn't feel like that. Even though I felt like I was wheezing, I could still breathe pretty well. Not this morning.

I persisted, and we ran five minutes before I had to stop and walk for a minute. I started back up and ran another three before I just had to stop. Romie tried to encourage me to push myself, but I knew I couldn't. I just couldn't get my breath. I felt like someone was choking my lungs. I have never breathed so fast and so hard, not even when I first started out.

Yesterday was kind of a lost day, because I felt sick all day. Not an ounce of energy, couldn't get comfortable in any position, coughing due to chest congestion, didn't sleep well the night before due to sweating (likely from the steroids I'm taking for the poison ivy), and the fibromyalgia was in full force.

But I actually felt much better this morning, so I was shocked at how awful the running went. My legs felt fine, but I just couldn't breathe. I've never had an asthma attack, but if I could imagine what that is like, that's how I would have described this.

So what did I do? I had a pity party for Kylee right there on the road, out in the middle of nowhere. Romie had continued running on ahead, and I ran behind him on and off, in an effort to catch up, crying all the way. I was just so frustrated and discouraged.

Do I want to quit? NO!!!! That would mean I'm giving up and I will NOT give up. That's not an option. That would mean all the progress I've made - even if I don't feel like it now - would be for naught.

For sure, the fact that I've been lax on my running in the last two weeks hasn't helped. Nor the chest congestion. What this has shown me is that you can't afford to skip a training day just because you're too busy or don't feel like doing it, because something can always come along that really prevents you from training and if you have been cheating like I had been, then you're in trouble.

Time for some serious self-talk and mind games. Whatever gets me through the night...and training.

Three Rivers Running Company

Tonight the group met at Three Rivers Running Company on the north side of Fort Wayne to be advised about shoes, socks, fitness wear, and other equipment. It was good to be with the group again, since I'd not seen them for a week and a half. I hate missing training because being among my fellow runners is in a way motivating, even if we're not actively training.

Casey explains the basic construction of a running shoe.

Here at Three Rivers, you can have your running analyzed by digital filming as you run on the treadmill.

Justin has his running style analyzed.

They look at your running style, mainly whether you pronate, supinate, or are generally neutral as your foot strikes the ground. I had no clue what I did, but a quick analysis showed that I pronate (shown in photo at right).

I had already purchased shoes about a month ago - New Balance 661 - just because I needed a pair, so I was interested to know if the pair I'd bought were okay for me. I found out that they were generally neutral and decent shoes, although it would have been better had I purchased a size larger than my usual 8½. To help with my pronation, I purchased inserts that help stabilize my arches.

I also purchased a pair of thin socks, which I prefer anyway, and they will also help create just a smidge more room in my shoes. We learned that socks make a big difference when running long distances. Actually, each little component adds up to a more pleasant running experience - shoes, clothing, socks.

We also learned about fabrics and how they can help wick away moisture (mostly known as sweat). While cotton is good for absorbing the moisture, it's not very good at helping it evaporate away, so most running attire is made of polyester or nylon, or a blend, because of their excellent moisture control properties.

I spoke with Casey, one of the managers, about how I'd been struggling with getting out to run, and he reminded of one of the methods that I'd actually used before, but had forgotten - that of setting a short goal as I got out on the road or on the treadmill. I'd tell myself I'd just run five minutes and see how I felt after that. Then I'd set another small goal, then another, and before I knew it, my time was in. I needed this reminder to jump start my routine again.

When I got home tonight, I came right in the house and immediately went to the basement to run on the treadmill (after stretching). The treadmill wasn't running right. I got mad. Here I was, ready to get back on the horse and the stupid treadmill wouldn't go any faster than 2.5 mph.

Nothing like a little anger to get you outside in the 48° rain to run. I didn't feel well, either due to the poison ivy, the steroids, the fibromyalgia or all three, yet I just had to get started again, or it was just one more day that I didn't run.

I managed to run 9 minutes, walk two, then ran just 7 more minutes before the rain and the wind got the better of me and I came in. I was really nauseated by the time I finished, so I don't think I could have completed the regular run anyway, even in good weather. After stretching, and a hot bath, I felt a lot better. And I had run. Even if it was only 16 minutes. It's a lot of steps in the right direction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Footnote: Romie got the treadmill fixed two minutes after I'd left the house to run in the rain. The variable speed pulley was stuck.

One More Reason

I never thought I'd use this reason not to run...

All day today, I have felt physically sick, including chilling and breaking into a sweat. I got a Medrol dosepak tonight and have just finished taking the sixth and final tablet for today. Five more days on it, and we'll see if this gets cleared up in time for the wedding. Right now, I just want to feel better.

Life Can Get in the Way

Wasn't it John Lennon that said, "Life is what happens while making other plans"? I feel like I'm living that life right now and I feel like my running schedule has suffered.

Gardening
Running
Gardening
Writing
Gardening
Fibromyalgia
Gardening
Bridal Shower
Gardening
Writing
Gardening
Working
Gardening
Running
Gardening

It's kind of like that. And I'm exhausted. But that's usually the case this time of year. We have large gardens and this is an extremely busy time. This will be over soon, and I can get back to some sort of normalcy.

I missed a couple of days running although I'm still current with the training schedule (Run 9:00, Walk 2:00, Repeat, Run 8:00). I noticed that my lungs and heart didn't suffer from missing those days, but my legs did. They just felt more tired. I'm not very good at multitasking and changing gears is really hard for me. As I'm immersed in one thing - mainly gardening, at the moment - I find it difficult to stop doing that and do whatever else needs doing. Like running. I do it, but mentally, I'm somewhere else.

The training group is going to run a 5K on May 17th - the Warbird Brewing Company 5K. Our daughter Jenna's wedding is that day. I don't think she'd be too happy with me if I tried to squeeze the 5K in. But I do hate missing running with the group.

117.5

Top Ten Reasons Not To Run Today

10. It's too windy.
9. I'm too busy.
8. I'm too tired.
7. Missing one day won't hurt.
6. I've got a headache.
5. It's too cold.
4. It's too hot.
3. My legs hurt.
2. I can do it tomorrow.

And the number one reason not to run today: I just don't want to.

For some reason, I'm having a real mental battle with myself. I want to do this, but I don't want to do this. Whether I'm running on the treadmill or out on the road, I'm having to fight for every minute to keep going. We talked about this with Jamey last Thursday and he tells us it's normal. He also said as we set larger goals for ourselves, it will continue to be difficult. Anything worth working for isn't easy.

I love how much more physically fit I am. My abdominal muscles are hard as a rock when I tense them up. It's been a very long time since they were like that. My leg muscles aren't as flabby as they once were either. And the fact that I don't get all that winded when running (like I used to) tells me my cardio-pulmonary health has improved, too.

So, regardless of all those reasons not to run, there are much better ones telling me to keep it up.