Bringing the Posse or Workout #13 for June

I am writing on behalf of my Friday run, on Saturday, since Friday became overwhelmingly busy. I will pretend it is Friday...

Last night I was pleasantly surprised to have The Captain arrive home from Seattle a day early. I woke up able to do my run! Unfortunately I forgot to set my alarm, so I woke up about an hour later than ideal, and the day was starting to get warm. I chose to not wear my running jacket, which I really love... But it worked out. I put my iPhone in my pants pocket, which held it fine. Today was run 5.3 or Week 5 Day 3 of Couch to 5k.

This is a dreaded run. It is the first run of the program where you run continuously. Many, many people drop the program at this run because it's pretty scary! Or, they drop the program just afterward because they feel like they completed the program. I decided I'm going all the way through the nine weeks because that is what I have committed to do. Regardless, I was pretty nervous.

I started off modifying my warm up walk area. I do this occasionally to keep from remembering where my previous rest points were. At the prompt I began running. And running. And running. I kept my pace slow, knowing I just needed to finish, and I wasn't in a race. I just let one foot fall in front of the other. My breathing was controlled, and it was a great start.

I made it up the incline, and was surprised at the "Halfway" prompt! It came so fast! Then I realized that I started my warmup walk in a different area, placing my halfway point "earlier". Halfway was 10 minutes! I ran for 10 minutes!

I have a confession. While there are blogs out there who have said they ran 20 minutes and didn't realize it. I did. I thought about it A LOT. I took miniature breaks. Four of them to be exact. One at around 10 minutes for about 5 seconds. One at 12 minutes for about 10 seconds. One at 14 minutes for about 10 seconds. The final one just before 18 minutes for about 15 seconds.

But at the end, I made it. I didn't have any set rests, and my miniature breaks were just a mental escape. My heart was hardened by a rough day prior. And I did not feel like "I was a runner". I was nervous. Sigh...

Apparently I didn't bring what my sister, ES, and I call my posse. My brain, heart, and courage.

However, I'm still very pleased with how well I did. I'm amazed actually at the HUGE progress I've made in the last month in a half. I am thrilled that I essentially ran 20 minutes. I have no doubt that the next time my program has a long run, I will make it all of the way through without breaks.

I didn't have a lot of motivation for my run that day... But today (real today, Saturday) I discovered something awesome. The Captain and I were going to do some Father's Day shopping, and could NOT find a close parking spot. Even remotely. Parking at the furthest possible place, we enjoyed our walk to the store, and the walk back. It was later I realized I didn't complain about how far the parking spot was. It wasn't like I ever got winded walking that length, or sore, but I never liked it. I would always say something like, "Do we have to park this far?" or "Can't we wait for a closer spot?" I enjoyed walking. I enjoyed walking with my husband! It was a simple joy, brought about by my lifestyle change. And that is my motivation to keep at it! I want more of that feeling!