Sunday, May 24, 2009

Sunday Running

Yesterday’s post was a hard one and I apologize for the tears it may bring to some (Mother…) I had a very hard time writing it, but I deal with my emotions in my writing. It’s who I am. That is why often, my blogs are so long. I say too much. They won’t all be that long, I promise.

Good Sunday morning!! The sun is beautiful here—only a few hours of work and then I’ll be driving in it to the parent’s house for the holiday weekend. I can’t wait, it’s always nice to get away especially to home sometimes. I went on a great 20 minute jog this morning to wake myself up and loosen my muscles from last night’s 10 mile bike ride…a little sun burnt and a little stiff, but feeling good. And, if all goes as planned, today’s run was my last ‘enjoyment’ run before I start training tomorrow for a triathlon.
My run this morning was great though. I’ve moved across town from campus, out East I call it, and I’m learning how nice the city is on this side of town. I have three parks in my vicinity, a great and long bike path, hills, some safe, quiet neighborhoods to run in, a pool and some ponds for swimming, and most of all endless choices for my running ventures. I do not miss the constant two routes I had been running. I like change, variety, especially when I’m just in my running zone. Someday soon though I’m going to get back up to my five miles a day. I have to admit, I haven’t been the runner I would like to have been for the past year or so as I’ve been battling some type of hip injury. I’ll be seeing my third doctor on Tuesday about it so hopefully things will go well and it’s nothing serious. Both the X-Ray and MRI have come out clean so maybe it’s just because I’m extremely inflexible….
In case those who don’t know me are wondering, I’m putting it out into the world that I AM NOT AN ELITE RUNNER, nor will I probably ever be. I wouldn’t even consider myself good yet, I just like to run… but some day I hope to have that constant 7:30 pace down or even better. I was a sprinter in high school (I never did cross country I hated distance then) but quit track to work a job, probably the one thing I regret in my life. When I got to college I realized how much I missed running so I just started going for the distance on my own. To date I have completed two half-marathons and hope to do many more, as well as some full marathons. After last summer’s roughness I knew I had to keep running and so on a whim, I inquired about walking onto the track team because I knew training with other people would keep me going. And that’s exactly what it did last fall. I had a great experience with the team, met some wonderful girls, and even had the opportunity to run in five indoor meets. And by the end of the season, I didn’t come in last on the final two races I ran (I was a 1000m and 800m runner—middle distance). However, in between indoor and outdoor season my hip gave out. It had been hurting for awhile though I just kept running on it, and I think the jump in intense training and mileage was what really aggravated it. So outdoor season was shot but by that time, I didn’t need running as much because my heart was getting stronger.

So now I’m on my way back up. My running slacked some this spring semester though my heart never faltered. Running, as with life, has its good and bad days and I do get discouraged a lot. But I just have to keep going forward if I’m ever going to get anywhere. Probably never the Olympics but hopefully a lot of Marathons and road races. I look at a lot of runners and notice how many are older than me. I don’t have patience, never have, but the great thing about running is your best years are often not when you are young, but the late twenties and thirties. So in my eyes, I may feel like I’m only getting started and never going to get anywhere, but it’s a great time to get started. I have no where to go but forward!

Ps…the ‘Running Reports’ link on the right side of my page, is a place I’ve created where I’m going to keep track of my races and times and all sorts of things. You know, the data and technical stuff, and any running groups I join or organizations I work with, which is something else I’m working on. Currently it’s in blog form because I’m not that html smart to figure everything else out yet. But Enjoy!

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!

“Jogging is very beneficial. It’s good for your legs and your feet. It’s also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed.”
-Charles Schultz

No comments:

Post a Comment