Tuesday, January 19, 2010

accomplished: longest run in 2 months.

Whoo. Exhaustion.
Today was simply exhaustion compounded.

I did finish my run, though, which I'm glad about. I intended to run about 7.5 miles and ended up running 7.6, which was sooo difficult today. I had to stop at a light for a minute at about the 6.5 mark, and I wasn't sure that I would be able to move again. It all seems to go pretty well when I continue to keep moving throughout the time period. It's just immensely difficult when I have to stop for a minute. My entire body was aching. It's better now, because I took a warm shower and am now relaxing with a glass of water. I know that I need to focus on stretching more, it's just tough to actually get in that habit. I've never been much of a stretcher, even when I used to work out in high school. I've also never exerted myself like I have been recently. I think that's a problem and I'm going to have to work at changing my lifestyle. I'm just not sure how to begin making such neccessary changes. It's not easy, that's for certain. It's just going to take me some time to get used to everything.

My run went pretty well today. It was pretty exhausting, of course. I ran further than I have at once since the half marathon that I ran in the beginning of November, so that was a big deal. I've noticed that, since I've been running more often, my lungs have gotten more adapted to running (which could be, in part, because there isn't as many pounds of fat layered on them, but anyhow) and I don't have to stop because of being short of breath. I still do stop and walk sometimes, but it's typically because my legs are getting tired. My walking periods are much shorter and further and far between than they were, even just a month ago. I'm fairly proud of myself about that, I must say. Anyways, I did have to stop some, but I completed my run in a fairly decent time, for me. I ran by this one guy several times (my usual route is just around this big block on my university's campus). He was much faster than me and looked more comfortable out there than I did. Someday, I want to look that comfortable. I want to actually look like I belong out there running. That is clearly going to take time.

There is some construction going on right in the middle of my running route, which is a little annoying. Today, less of the sidewalk was blocked than last time, so I just kept running through, during my first lap. Unfortunately, I didn't look down until my feet were literally sinking into mud. I had to leap out of the mud. Even my socks got muddy. Sick.

I don't know what is is about coughing once I get into a warmer place. I was outside and I didn't cough at all, but as soon as I got in my car and the heat started to work, I started to cough quite a bit. Now it has been an hour, so that has calmed down, but I've still been coughing some. It's kind of strange. I think it has something to do with the cold weather.. that's something that I should probably look up and read about, I guess.

So I researched a bunch of the options for running trackers like I said that I would. I really like the Nike+, especially because it has a capability to have some sort of a social networking function. I really like the idea to be able to connect to different people through it. I think that seeing how much other people are running will help to keep me on track. I'm going to get Nike+ with my next shoes in the next month or so... (new shoes.. will be sad)

I've also officially given up on going to Orlando and running in the Disney Princess half marathon over Spring Break. I'm going to save my money up to do Goofy's Challenge- the half on Saturday, followed by the full on Sunday. I think that will be sooo worth all of my hard work and it'll be a dream come true to finish it. I KNOW that I can do it. That is next January. I'm getting excited about it. I'm going to register with my next paychecks in two weeks, then I'll be committed. So exciting.

Muddy Shoes:





Goal: 1000 miles/365 days
So far:143.69 miles/73 days
To go: 856.31 miles/292 days

2 comments:

  1. Nice shoes! You must have an awesome mom!

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  2. The pictures add a nice touch. I'm proud of you. And then you almost ran that far today too. I did notice that you took less walking breaks than you used to even though you went really far, and you were even feeling sickly from the bad foods you ate today! That means you usually do even better than you did!

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