Back to the Land of Those that Run!

Ah, running, how I've missed you.  Patrick was sick all last week, which means I didn't leave the house.  Sure, I have a home treadmill, but for some reason with all the illness and being couped up in the house, my motivation plummeted. 

I ran ONE time last week.  I made it a whole 3 miles before someone was yelling at me that she needed to go potty.  Seriously, I'm certain my treadmill is a baby laxative.  Ridiculous.

Then, of course, I drove to my class this weekend, so I was exhausted Friday night.  Then class all day Saturday.  Again I was exhausted and just wanted to relax.  So I delayed until Sunday morning... knowing I would only get in one run this weekend.  I woke up to use the hotel gym and guess what?  Uh, it doesn't open until 6am.  Considering I needed to be showered, dressed, packed, and checked out by 7am, I figured that would be a waste of time.  Ugh.  I wasn't at a hotel where it was ok to just run out the front door.  I'm thinking jogging along a 6 lane road is probably not wise.  All this long explanation just to show you that I was full of excuses.

Finally today the big kids are back in school, and Paige is over her battle with strep throat as well, so I got to the gym.  And using everything I learned this weekend, I ran slowly.  Not a little slow, but a lot slow... I kept hearing the instructor - "Appropriately slow for your current fitness level."  And yes, someone smart actually defined that in terms of numbers.  OK, lots of smart people have, with only slightly differing conclusions.  And guess what, after a week off and nothing over 6 miles since January 1st, I was able to comfortable push through 7 miles.  I could've gone longer.  Woo-hoo.  Check the box, she's back.  I'm ready to kick-it back into gear.  The post marathon laziness has been upon me for 6 weeks now, it's time to get back in the saddle (which I really wanted a fun google image to represent, but go ahead and google "back in the saddle" and click images and see what kind of hogwash you come across).

This weekend, A RACE... yeah, I know I just shocked you all, right?  Race #3 of the new year... looking forward to it! 

I'll be doing the 15K and hoping to PR since my one and only 15K was in mid-July in Texas.  It was the opposite of this race... it was called "Too Hot to Handle".  Yes, seriously.  So I'm hoping to kill my time from that horrible, embarrassing performance where my body withered in the heat!  If I don't PR, expect me to be reporting back in crutches...