5 Running Days Into This Mess

Tonight will be night number 6. I have a dog park meeting after work and it's Bluegrass (you know bluegrass music with banjos, mandolins, etc.) night at the local pub with some of my friends playing so I don't really want to run (or attempt to run) tonight. I can do it Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday this week. I'm also hoping to start working out next week. If I can talk my personal trainer into actually training me. Most of you know that one of my bestest friends, Bruce, is a personal trainer with his own studio so it's not as though I'm actually able to afford his services...but he's going to work out with me a couple of times to get me back into the swing of things and then I'm going to venture out on my own with him giving me the schedule of things to do. I haven't worked out in 15 months so it will take some getting used to but I used to love it. Can you believe I said that?? I did though. I felt stronger and healthy and just plain better. It was always a challenge to me. I wanted to be the first girl at the studio to bench press with actual weight on the bar. Did it. I wanted to be the only one at the studio that could do a thousand crunches. Did it. I can still probably do at least 500 right now. Anyway, I think it really helps the stress level too. I'm also going to take a self defense class in November which will help get some frustrations out. I feel the need to kick somebody's ass. I need to try to figure out how to turn the running thing into more of a challenge. Not that running 13.1 miles in 200 days isn't challenge enough. I need to mentally wrap myself around this thing so that I can get through it physically. A friend who runs says that he almost meditates while running. I'm not much of a meditator but to get that mentally into it would help get through it on the physical level. I don't know. I'm just blabbering now. More later...

Day 2

Well, day 2 proved to be worse than day 1. Didn't think it would be possible. We ran, probably, twice the distance we did the first day. I talked to my nephew Daniel (who just graduated from UK with degree in Kinesiology - the study of human movement) who suggested we run slower but longer distances and rest less in between the 'dots.' I told him that I was finding it easier to run faster but shorter distances. So we tried it his way and it was much better.

Rita and I are running at night at a park by our houses. Her mom knows where we are and when we leave so I'm not to afraid to be running over there. I'm going to start carrying my pepper spray, just in case. But the whole point in telling you this is that on our second run we were on our last leg (almost literally) and really having to push each other to get through it and we were laughing hysterically because if you had only heard us - you would have thought someone was having a baby in the park...with all the hooting and hollering and "push!" and "oh my God" and "you can do it" going on...