Getting Stronger

So this weekend was a success.

Saturday was my long run. The night before I set my goal, which I thought was a pretty lofty ambition itself, for 6 miles in 61 minutes. I didn't want to be too ambitious because I knew if I didn't make the time I'd be a little disappointed. But I thought I could do it. Steve and I set out on our run around 7:30 Saturday morning. The weather was beautiful. It almost reminded me of San Francisco. It started off pretty well. I kept looking down at our Nike iPod adapter and being shocked that we were coming in at under 10 minute a mile. The hardest part for me was when we hit the bridge by Mockingbird. I was really struggling. The sun was beating down on us and it was starting to get hotter. Eventually, we made it to the halfway point, grabbed a quick sip of water and continued on our way. But about 1/2 mile after the halfway point I was still out in the sun, and started to not be able to catch my breath. I was probably going a little too fast, but my legs just didn't want to slow down. Steve convinced me to walk for a minute, so that's what I did. I probably walked about 45 seconds and then decided "Ok, I've got it under control. I've got a goal to reach, let's go!" There's another hard part and that's the hill coming back from the 4 mile marker. Oh my gosh, that hill is a doozy. It kicks my butt every single time. But I pushed through it and continued running. After that hill, it's pretty "easy-breezy". As "easy-breezy" as a 6 mile run can get :) Only one other "hill" and it's just a gradual incline that takes a few minutes to get through. The last mile is probably the best because it starts off downhill, in the shade, and the rest of it is pretty flat or downhill. When we got closer to the apartment and the 6 mile marker I felt my lungs open up and I knew I had it. I kicked it into high gear and left Steve in the dust. :) I finished my run at a 7.5 minute mile (I held that for about a quarter mile).
All in all, we ran our 6 miles in 60 minutes and 2 seconds. An average pace of a 9.58 minute mile and we ran a total of 6.24 miles.

To say I'm not proud of myself would be a complete lie. I think I'm still reveling in that run. I can't believe how well I managed to run it. It's my longest run to date. The longest run of my life. :) And I am just so stoked that I finished under my goal. I'm also really excited to know that had I gone another .16 mile, I would have gone the distance of a 10k.

Sunday, I cleaned our apartment. I vacuumed. I dusted. I even cleaned the baseboards...they were FILTHY. I cleaned our bathtub and swept and swiffered the floors. Then I went to Marshalls and Ross. I bought myself some more athletic socks for $6 for 3 pairs, a really cute hot pink Nike jacket for colder weather running, and a fun white, pink, and green Nike windbreaker/rain jacket for when I want to run and it's raining out. I also got this cute hot pink Puma baseball cap for keeping the sweat out of my eyes. Those jackets were orginally $65+ and I got them for $20 a piece! Gah, I could shop all day in Ross and Marshalls. I'm pretty positive that's where I'm shopping when we buy our house. After I managed to do some damage to our bank account, I went home and hopped on the Wii Fit. I did some hula hooping for 15 minutes and then unlocked this "free step" where I can do "step aerobics" for 10-20 minutes but watch TV at the same time. So I did that for 30 minutes and burned some calories.

We didn't get to bed early enough Sunday night to feel good enough to wake up early and run Monday...but I'm kind of glad we didn't. My calves were killing me yesterday and it took me all day to figure out why! That stupid "free step" I did on the Wii! Seriously, I was massaging my calves all evening after work, they were so tense and sore.

We did manage to get up this morning and go for a 4.17 mile run. We ran that in 40.37 seconds with an average pace of 9.38 minute mile. Pretty good. Another great run. Another beautiful morning. My legs felt so powerful. It's the first time I was running and really started to notice how my legs felt. I just felt so strong and almost light. My breathing was amazing and I probably could have held a conversation the whole time.

As we were on our way back from the halfway point, two bicyclists came by and I heard one of them before they passed us say, "runners" to alert the guy behind her. I don't know what caused it but I started grinning from ear to ear. I'm a runner. Yes, I am. I guess I just still have that feeling of "oh, I just try to run" "oh I'm not that good" "Oh, I can't even run all that fast". Why the negative attitude? Why the mental block? I don't know. I'm sure part of it stems from a very unfortunate event that is burned into my mememory when I was about 8 or 9 years old running back from my neighbor's house. A car passed by and someone yelled out their window, "Run, fatty, run". I guess sometimes I still feel like that chubby little girl, who never really ran, who wasn't really into sports, who would rather spend all day on her swing set, than try to swing a baseball bat. I've just never been athletic and it's hard to look at myself and consider that maybe now I am. I still look in the mirror and I still see my stomach with zero definition (of course, actually doing crunches could remedy some of that), I still see big hips, and a jiggly butt. I guess I'm just going to have to realize that "athletic" comes in all shapes and sizes and that yes, I am athletic, even if I'm not a size 2 and even if I don't weigh 115 pounds!