Week #4 Recap

Monday--2.0 miles (20.54 minutes)

Okay, so first day with new shoes and orthotics and. . .none of the previous pain was present. Just new pain of adjusting to having something hard and plasticy holding up my arch. I think that I can adjust to that, although maybe I bruised my arches a little today. My stride felt better and if I had run the whole time, I think I would have had two sub-10 miles. I am sure that tomorrow's three mile run will be both better and worse as I adjust to these shoes, but seriously, it felt (mostly) pretty good!

On an weird note, I had a fun dream last night. I dreamt that I was a runner and I was going to run 20 miles from Calvin College around Reed's Lake (which really isn't 20 miles) but that I loved it and I was fast and I kept passing all sorts of people. Especially lots of cute guys who wanted my number, but couldn't catch/keep up with me to get it. Hmm, I wonder what it all means?

Tuesday--2.5 miles (29.07 minutes)

Adjusting to new inserts is hard, and a little painful which is why my time was as it was today. I had to walk way more than I wanted to because it hurt and I feared that I was doing damage to my feet. Ick, it was frustrating. (Don't worry, I have been walking in my shoes to get used to them--wore them to Meijers and my softball game tonight).

But I realized something, I didn't like walking. It was frustrating--I would have rather been running. This is a change in perspective and I think that I might actually be starting to like running. At this point I don't always like running, but I would rather run during my run than walk--in fact, I would rather run than jog, but at this point I don't have the stamina or strength to run for my whole run. The difference in time/speed between running and jogging is almost 1 1/2 minutes/mile.

Another thing, and this is vain, I like the way I look running. On the way back home on my run, the sun was behind me and I got to watch my shadow run. And to be completely honest, I liked what I saw--not only did I see me run, but I saw my outline, which did not accent any of my perceived flaws or tell me what was wrong with me, I simply saw what was right and good. I saw someone who is challenging herself (it made me want to run through my pain), someone who is achieving something rare, someone who takes care of herself and is healthy and someone who could almost be called an athlete. It made me proud of what I am trying to do and what I have already achieved.

Friday--3.44 miles (34.30 minutes)

What's to be said? I woke up early and did this run. And I was proud of it--I never walked and I even kept going a bit after my "required" distance.

But, oh, did I happen to mention that after I got home, Eric and I looked at our training schedule and realized that our 7 mile run for tomorrow coincided with the Reeds Lake Run (10k). So we signed up. The justification: We know we have to run around the lake and we might as well get the support and motivation that comes with a race. So for an extra $50, we get water, Gatorade, some fans, and free t-shirts. Sounds like a great deal, eh?

Saturday--Total running 7.3 miles (10k time 1:06:18)

Wow, I must admit I was a little nervous this morning. I didn't sleep well last night; kept waking up thinking it was time to get up. I guess that I was nervous about running a race I really didn't feel prepared to run, not for a decent time, worried a bit about whether my feet were going to hold on for the entire distance. But at the appointed time, Eric and I ran down to the Reeds Lake Run (10k).

And we walked very little, only some very small breaks for water/Gatorade and to give my feet a second to catch up with me. And we finished with a pretty okay time. Honestly, I was shooting for 1:05, but I guess I'll do with 1:06. But let me tell you, those last two miles were hard. I wanted to quit. It took everything I had to not quit. For part of those two miles we ran with a woman from Holland who was training for a half-marathon--and f0r those two miles I felt like I ran faster than I could handle. But we did it--Eric even managed to get me to sprint the last .1 so we could finish strong. He was a great encourager today. And as soon as we were done, all I could think was "I want to go home." Isn't that a childish response? So we walked home, pretty slowly.

But my mental reaction to this race is making me seriously question my physical ability to run a whole marathon. But I want it, I want to. I am just not sure how to do it--maybe I need to learn some mental self-talk techniques, learn to think about the right kinds of things, not the pain in my feet and how badly I want to quit. I want to like this--especially distances. I am beginning to think that accomplishing this will rank right up there with childbirth as to proudest accomplishments in my life thus far.

Total Week Mileage: 15.24 miles

(Immediate reaction: Holy S$*t--I ran 15 miles this week?!! On target! I rock!)