The Lucky Penny or Workout #4 for July

This morning I woke up at a good time to go running nice and early, before temps started increasing. But my running partner, Miss Peach, was still sleeping... I called my therapist/sister ES to talk about college stuff that's stressing me out, and she brought me back to reality. It was good. After dilly dallying as long as I could, I decided to just wake the babe.

I forgot I broke my earbuds. ughhhhhhhhhh......

Today was week 7 day 3 of Couch to 5K, or the last chance to run 25 minutes without stopping. I had not yet been able to do this, whether it was a physical or a mental impasse. I wasn't sure of my ability, but I wanted to give it my all. I did my warm up, moving the location, to keep my run feeling "short".

I left thinking, "I will take a walk break after I return home." Which shortened to "I will take a break at the stop sign." And again "I will take a break at the halfway mark." Sigh...

I arrived at the park, the daunting incline before me. I decided I would run to the top and assess my feeling. I was fine, so I kept running. The halfway prompt came, and I ran right through it, not even tempted to stop. Shortly after, I wanted to stop. In my head I thought, "No! If I start now, I'll take breaks too often, and it doesn't do anything but frustrate me at the end." So I kept running. And with each desire to stop, I thought a simple "No." Or "It's not time yet."

By the time I left the park, and was heading home, I realized I wasn't going to stop at all, even though, while I didn't realize it, I probably still had seven minutes left, or more. Instead of stopping to walk, I would decrease my already snail's pace, to something probably slower than walking, but I kept "running". Naturally it returned to my set pace.

I didn't notice when I passed the stop sign. It was only when I was approaching home, I started saying "Uncle". I decided I would run to the end of the cul-de-sac and assess how I felt.

And then I saw it, a shiny penny.

Now, this might sound odd, but just Monday, my dad told me a story of a marathon runner who was trying out for the Olympics, and while he ran he always stopped to pick up coins. When the Olympic trials were happening, he saw 2 quarters off to the side. Stopping to pick them up cost him qualification to enter the Olympics.

I thought of this as I saw the penny. I could stop to pick it up, but it would require me to stop. I was so close to my goal. It's funny what the nagging voice in your head can try to convince you to do. I had to convince myself that the penny would still be there when I looped back around. And it was JUST A PENNY. It wasn't a $100 bill. haha. It was hard to run past, but I did, thinking of my dad's timely story. (Thank you, Dad!)

I got to the end of the cul-de-sac, frustrated there was not a "one minute left" prompt yet! And then it came. I was too tired to run harder that last minute, like I usually do, so I kept going at my current rate. And I finished. I ran 25 minutes. Straight. I have never run 25 minutes intentionally, before. As I once again approached the penny, I passed it by, needing to do my cooldown, in a much better mental state than I had been.

Upon completion of the workout and cooldown, I went back and picked up the penny. It wasn't as shiny as I thought it was. The year? 2007. The year I changed my life. The year I started reclaiming myself. I am where I am now because of choices I made that year. I was running today because of choices I made that year.

I think I'll keep the penny.