Day 40: I Heart Running!

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it."  Oprah Winfrey

Oh, how I've missed running. So this morning I decided that I was going to head out with my running group and just run a couple of miles just to see who I could pace with possibly during the race. They were all running 10 and I told each of them - no way jose! I wanted to *try* to run maybe 3 miles one direction and then loop back for a total of 6. Remember, I've only ran up to 5 miles at this point so I wasn't even sure how 13 would be attainable. We set out and immediately within 5 seconds of our run, my hair band breaks! And if you've ever seen my hair - there is NO running with it hanging down. I might as well throw a blanket over my head because it would distribute just as much heat. I wanted to stop there but instead called out to the crew asking if anyone had extra hair ties and thankfully one friend let me use her sweat band so I was saved! Because of that little episode it took me a while to find my rhythm and watching my old pace partners get further and further away was a little hard because your mind starts telling you - there they go, look how far back you are, you're never going to be able to finish this. Sad stuff. Just then, two new girls come up behind me and I ask if I can pace with them. I noticed that they were talking to each other and thought - great, they're going to expect me to talk and now I'm never going to make it. But you know what, talking works! I have feedback on my phone that counts miles down for me and before I knew it we were already at 6 miles and I was feeling good. By the time we got to 7 miles though, daddy was calling and asking me to hurry it up because Eva was definitely not having the bottle. So for the remaining 2 miles, I was booking it to get to the car so I could help him out and my heart was racing thinking she was scared that I wasn't there. In the end I ran 9.25 miles and I am so surprised because I never thought I would make it that far but here I am, running my heart out! Now granted, because I haven't ran this kind of distance in such a long time - my body did still take quite a beating and I was hobbling around here for the rest of the evening. I learned that I can't sit in one place for long or else my legs will completely stiffen up and I can't move. I did have my own personal massage from a very cute lil dude...

I told him that my feet hurt and he said "awwww. here mama!" and began rubbing my feet! So I got a little pampering plus a pretty cute view too! Love that boy! After I recovered a bit and assured sweet Eva-cakes that I was not going anywhere, we all left and got donuts to celebrate! I lost somewhere around 1100 calories so I was a-okay with trying to replenish with some sprinkley, sugary,goodness! Next week, the girls are running 11 miles and I may not run all of it but I'm just happy to be out there doing what I love! Till next time...