I love to run. I love to be outside in the wind and the snow, in the sun and the rain and be running. I don't do it nearly as often as I would like, so, in honor of my first year of having medals, I want to be better than I am. I like shiny things, what can I say.
To start this out correctly, I wanted to give you, my dear reader, the chance to get to know me, perhaps because I have kept a part of me out of the lime light, if only for a certain few. They are the ones that I know that I love to run. I used to post things on my Facebook page about running and what I thought of it, and no one cared about it. If they did, they said nothing. And then, I found the most amazing supportive group of people in a challenge that I found through MapMyRun, called, You vs. The Year. The goal was to run 1000 km for the year. I wasn't able to complete it last year. And then, I discovered that they were going to do it again this year. I was all in. And once I had signed up, I saw something that caught my eye. The group on Facebook. It was so amazing, they loved that I ran and that I was slow and they cared about me finishing my first half marathon. It was awe inspiring.
I also wanted to say that I love to write. I compose a lot of writing while I am running. There is so much that goes on in my head, and I feel like sometimes, if I don't get it out of me, I may explode. Today, was one of those days.
In February, I saw a post in this running group about a man who had run for 1000 days in a row. I was in shock! I had no idea that this was a sort of thing, but, I was so taken back by it, I thought to myself, why couldn't I do that too. It was so inspiring to me. I told my love about it, I wanted him to think that I was more than capable to be able to complete this kind of a thing. He was not. In fact, he gave me a few reasons why I couldn't finish something like this. Challenge accepted! I was feeling so good, it was a really wet winter up here on the mountain, I was loving my morning running. The air was cold and it was very dark on my runs. I wouldn't my normal 3 mile route due to having to run through some seriously cold water twice. I would do it once, if I was going to hit at least 4.5 miles, but I had to have the time to do so, otherwise, it would have to be a short 2 mile run. I can two miles, two miles won't kill me. That's what I would tell my best friend in the morning while we text. I was cutting my runs to close to having to get ready for work, and so my stretching started to fall by the way side. This lead to my most annoying set back I have had as a runner. Shin splints. I had been able to make it a total of 11 days before this kicked me in the buttocks. In fact, I became very mad that I couldn't run. Typical runner. Not mad that my body hurts, mad that I can't go run. I had been so determined to show him up, to show him that I can do something that momentous. And I hadn't been able to run for a full two weeks. I was stressed and this wasn't good for me.
Fast forward to the last two months. I have run two more half marathons since this happened. I have completed a total of three virtual runs, working on another, I hope to get it done this week, all while still chasing that goal now of 1017 km this year, as well as my 1000 miles that I am aiming for. This is no small feat for me. Last year, due to stepping on a rock weird, and needing new shoes, I stopped running for the last week of the year. I was so mad about that too. Dammit! I made it to 685 kms for the year. This is nothing to sneeze at though. It's a long way to run. That is 425 miles. That's like running to Palm Springs from my house in Lakeside Arizona. I am pretty impressed with myself. I am already to about 350 miles this year, I have more than half of the distance to cover, but, for whatever reason, with today being the 165th day of the year, and only 200 days left of the year, I wondered, what can I do in that time. Can I make it to my 1000 miles? I am certain that this is a thing that will happen.
So now, the goal of this project is not only to run every day for the next 200 days, but, to write about it, which will prove to be thousands of times more difficult. I love to write, but, I tend to think that I have to be in the mood for it. For this, I will defy my own sense of expectations for myself.
Today, on this beautiful Thursday morning, I took off with the expectation of doing about 4 and half miles, which I managed to do in about 58 minutes. In most cases, I will be taking along my awesome dog, a husky who loves to chase leaves and squirrels. We set off on our morning run, and I am now trying to run with a goal for each and every run, and not only that, to really put thought into some of the people that I like to run for. To observe the goings on of the neighborhood of which I am a part of. For today, I wanted to have a base line starting point. I have run this route for a while now, and I love it. It's my favorite aside from trail running.
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| So pretty this morning |
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| The lake that looks like glass |
I noticed a few things this morning. I kept passing houses with trampolines in the yards with the nets and such. And I started to think about when I was growing up and how much fun trampolines are for any age. But those nets, I don't remember ever seeing these nets around them to keep young ones from falling and getting hurt. That's great, but, then I started to think about we have been so good at protecting our kids from dangers of falling and getting hurt, that we have not let them know what it's like to feel pain. They don't know how to be able to play and use caution at the same time. We always knew that we could have fallen off of things, or out of trees, and yet, we climbed and jumped and ran and played wild and free. My child has no idea what it's like to play outside with the knowledge that at some point, if you're not careful, you will get hurt. How many times did I fall, many I'm sure. In fact the scars I carry with me are reminders that I have fallen, yet I have been able to get up, scrape myself off and keep going. My daughter only knows the safety part of everything because it's all been baby proofed. I remember my mom telling me at one point that you don't baby proof a house, you house proof the baby. Which means, that sometimes, they will get hurt and that's ok. They will survive. If a pot falls on their foot because they drug it out of the cabinet, then in the future they will remember to not do that again. It's strange to think that this is same world that I grew up in. There are things that we didn't have around, like cell phones and everyone having the latest greatest phones. If you had a cordless phone, you were rich. Now, I want to go back to those days when the phone hung on the wall in the kitchen. Alas, I cannot turn back the hands of time, I can only hope that I have made good choices that will impact my girls positively.
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| Just thought this was pretty |
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| And if you turn your head this way... |
It was a hot run. We left a little later than what I like, but, it was nice and I am glad for the water that I brought. The dog drank more of it than I did, but, what the hell, she can't get into the cupboard when we get home either. She's my partner, I have to take care of her. We got home and I remembered that stretching is part of why I got hurt, so I made sure to spend a few minutes to stretch out as well. I am hoping that I can get back into the morning runs. But I have to be able to stretch no matter what, it's what keeps me able to stand up all day long and ask, would you like fries with that? Just kidding, I don't do that. I ask if they would like their account balance on their receipt.
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| Doggie in the background... sniffing. Again. |
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| So you know where I am at when I stated this journey |
I am thinking this will be a harder challenge than what I think it will be. But, without something to push myself towards, I'm just treading water with nothing going on around me. So here I go. 200 days of running.
Day one, done.
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| Happy Running |
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