My usual impatience rears it head again...

Okay, so today is the day two of my training program to get up to a 5km run. It was supposed to be a repeat of day one - run one minute, walk two minutes. Well unlike the my first run, I was doing this at 04:30 instead of 05:15 which makes a difference in the amount of daylight available. I started out with my walk to warm up the muscles and I noticed that I couldn't see the second hand on my watch so I wasn't gonna be able to see when a minute was up to change pace. I continued walking and thought about how I would handle the run. I thought about counting but you know how that gets when you're running, you end up counting you steps instead on seconds and I thought I might not run for long enough. Then I thought, maybe I could go back and get my small flashlight but that would be very awkward. I finally had a thought that I figured I would either regret and amaze myself... why not run for as long as I could and then I'd be able to see how far I could get at my current fitness level. By this time I was at the point where I planned to start running so I began. I felt good starting out, before I new it I was a few streets over and I began to have thoughts that I could get to what I was figuring was just short of my half-way point, so I decided, GO FOR IT!

Well the point I had in mind was just over the crest of a long gradual hill so I began to thing, "Maybe I won't get to the point I had in mind, but I *hafta* try" so I pushed on as I started ascending the hill. As I crested the hill and started down a short incline to the stop sign I was gonna stop at, I noticed that my legs were feeling good as I went downhill and I thought, "Okay, that went well. Maybe I'll try and make it to the next stop sign... it's a flat stretch and it's not too far" and so I pushed on.

At the next stop sign I made an instant decision to push on 'round the corner so I did and started to go up the long gradual hill going back into town from the west and figured, "I'll stop when I get to the top if I'm really winded but if I'm okay, I'll go down the steep hill and maybe my legs will recover again like before." Well I made it about half way down the hill and it's at that point that I allowed a thought that had been lingering in the back of my head to come to the forefront of my thoughts and that was "I'm goin' ALL THE WAY!"

The absolute sweetest moment was when I slowed to a walk just as I passed my driveway and I did my cooldown walk around the block. Wow... I actually did it!

When I got to work this morning, I started MS Streets and Trips and plotted the route I ran. I actually ran 3.7km! I know I could've continued to make the 5km mark if I had more time. This is exciting news for me! I'm in a better place than I thought. I was able to recover quite quickly from the run and wasn't gasping for air like I thought I would be. This is FANTASTIC news! (at least to me)

Awsome. Just awesome. I'm gonna repeat the run on Saturday morning and see if I can do it again. The only issue I have to work out is that Patrick wants to come with me. Maybe I'll do my run and then take him on a short run of run/walk like I did on Tuesday.

Well, that was a long story but I just *had* to share it 'cause I'm so pumped about the results.

I may write more later or perhaps just save it for tomorrow. My first highschool reunion is coming up and I'm not currently goin' but I'm thinking that I may regret it if I don't go. Gotta think about it.

Have a GREAT day everyone, I know I will!

g.