Back with a vengeance!

Wednesday I decided to skip a run and rest to get over a little cold, and I planned on going to yoga Thursday and Friday and doing my long run on Sunday.  On Wednesday night I took some Nyquil and went to bed at 9pm, but when I woke up for work I still felt very out of it.  At my husband's encouragement, I took the day off of work and canceled my yoga class for the night.  I ended up getting a full 15 hours of sleep, laid on the couch and watched HGTV all day long, and feeling much more prepared for work the next day.  Yoga on Friday night left me feeling very cleaned out and rested, I took another day off on Sunday (although I ended up cooking all day for a family dinner, but that was lots of fun!), and today I was ready to tackle my 4 mile run.

I was very nervous about the run because this is the longest distance I've ever attempted.  My goal was to finish 2 miles without stopping, and then I'd see how I felt for the last 2 miles.  And I achieved that goal!!!  I ran the first 2 miles and then was winded, but not the worst I've been.  I planned my route so I ended up at my house at that point and I took a few sips of water from a bottle I'd stashed on my front porch.  I wanted to run another mile after that, but my legs were feeling leaden and I only made it .25 miles before I had to take a walk break.  My walk breaks are always just .25 miles when I'm doing distance runs.  For my next running segment I had a goal of .75 miles but I ended up going a whole mile.  I was seriously considering pushing through to 1.25, but since I'm still getting over the lingering effects of my cold I didn't want to push too hard.  So I took another walk break and had a few sips of water at my house again, and then I finished the last .75 miles running.  

4 miles of running, 4.75 miles total, total time of 56:30, average pace of 11:53, and another big check mark on my training schedule!!!

I thought a lot this week about my progress.  Sometimes I feel like I'm not making progress because I still can't fit into my favorite jeans, I still can't consistently run 30 minutes without stopping, and I still can't run the scheduled distances without stopping.  But I've been reminding myself a lot lately to notice that I really have improved a lot since starting this blog.  I used to be huffing and puffing and falling over like crazy if I tried to attempt to run a mile!  I still remember the first time I ran the nature trail and I was dying after 10 minutes and .75 miles.  Now I run a mile and I feel great!  It still feels like work, but I definitely don't feel like I need to stop or like I'm going to keel over.  I'm also getting faster, there are times when I can run pretty steadily at a 9:35 pace!  I'm going to make a real effort throughout my training, and beyond, to notice the progress I've made (even if it's small progress) and to be proud of myself for just making the effort to do this!