Wednesday, April 7, 2010

The push

This is really a post for my running blog. But I'm going to be a rebel and post it here. I'm back in the running groove after completing my first ever half marathon and then taking a little time off to nurse my "runners knee". If you care to relive my entire experience from training to marathon, you can click here. I wish I could make everyone who says to me "I could never run" understand that I was that girl, just over a year ago. I seriously was. Then in 11 months I was running a half marathon. And I was that girl who never finished anything either. Especially if it didn't come easy. And running did not come easy.

I've settled back into my usual 3 miles, 3 times a week. I'm doing a 7 mile leg for the Memorial Marathon in a couple of weeks and I hate to say it, but my training has been sub par. My neighbor/running partner Jen runs with me a couple of mornings a week, if we make it. Yesterday, I got a text from her at 448am that it was too windy and we should skip. I happily obliged and plopped myself back into bed, running clothes and all. So that meant at work, I was going to need to squeeze in a run at lunch. Which is actually, a great break for me in the middle of the day. So as "fighter" by Cristina Agulerra played, I thought to myself how I hadn't challenged myself enough lately. So I had this crazy idea to run my 3 miles faster than I normally do. Just to see what happened. See here's my little secret - you can run forever, as long as you don't run fast. When you kick up the speed, that's when you lose me. So, with deep breaths, I cranked that treadmill up to 6.5. I checked the pace, just to see how fast a mile that would be for me. 9.15. I run a 10-11 min mile. And I'm really happy there. So I told myself to zone out to the music, and I covered the timer with a towel. It was really hot in the gym, and I was sweating buckets, but man, did I feel good. I made the whole 3 miles at a 915 pace. That may not be fast for some, but that's the beauty of running! You can run against yourself and its really the only thing that matters. So I beat myself yesterday.

All of this to say, if you don't challenge yourself, your really missing out. Whether that's in sports, a hobby, work, or life in general. How do you know if your better, if you don't push yourself to find out?

3 comments:

Kendra said...

That's great! It feels so good to accomplish something like that. :-) And running 3 whole mile at 915 would be tough for me, so good job!

Cristina said...

Great post! I, too, have not been pushing myself. Because of the wind I've been running on the treadmill and sticking to a comfortable 2 mile run each morning. My goal this weekend is to get on the trail and run a full 3 miles. What speed do you normally run at? YEAH FOR YOU for doing a 915! That rocks!!!

Amber said...

Impressive!!!!!