20...I will NOT quit.

WHAT I DID

I used "the stick" for five minutes on each calf before I went out today....then I rulked 3.35 miles in 43 minutes (including my 10 minute warm up and a five minute cool down).  My average speed was 4.7 mph which is an increase.  The whole time I had to remind myself ...TELL myself... I am not a quitter.  I don't want to be a quitter.  I will not be a quitter.  (More about this in the bottom section.)

One section of my run was on a road that has a bunch of little cypress (maybe cedar) trees planted an equal distance apart.  I started running at the start and told myself to run to the end (maybe 1/5 a mile).  I immediately wanted to quit so I started counting the trees and kept telling myself "just one more" until I made it to the end.

At 31 minutes, I was at the end of my street.  I had just told myself I would not quit, but seeing my house I thought it would be perfectly acceptable for me to finish my rulk since I was originally only supposed to go 30 minutes under the plan I started with.  I felt like the biggest quitter.  My neighbors were all out working in their yards and I imagined them all saying to me, "You're a quitter!!"  Never mind they had no idea how far I'd been or how long I'd been out there...never mind they would NEVER say that to me...  So I pushed myself and kept going.  I am SO GLAD I DID.

WHAT I LEARNED

I love my new shoes!!  No shin splints today!  They are not like running on pillows which is what I would prefer, but they do what they were designed to do--give my fee the support they need.

I am lazy.  Yes, it's true and I admit it as much as I'd like to deny it.  (More about this in the next section.)

I need to drink more water.  My mouth felt like a ball of cotton about 15-20 minutes in.

I can CERTAINLY do more than I think I can. 

WHAT I AM GOING TO DO

I have said it before, but I haven't done it yet---I am going to go somewhere else to run.  I don't think it will make me not want to quit, but I THINK it will make it a little harder since my house won't be right there.  Another idea I has was to have my husband drive me out about 3-5 miles and drop me off.  I'd be forced to finish then!!

I was telling my husband about how I was feeling and he said he thought running had lost the appeal to me.  That's just not true.  I really love it.  I love the way it makes me feel.  I think about it all the time--even now just an hour after my internal debate, where I had to force myself not to quit, I wish I was still out there.  I long for the day when I can go out and run for hours.  But, the thing is, I'm LAZY.  This is something that's going to take work for me to do.  I can't just go out and do what I want to do.....it's going to REQUIRE perserverance--something I've been short on my whole life.  I can act like I can do anything I put my mind to...but the truth is when what I put my mind to gets hard, I decide to change what I've put my mind to doing!!  

I'm going to ACT IN ACCORDANCE WITH A DECISION I'VE ALREADY MADE---to keep running...to keep training for the marathon...to keep remembering this is a goal I made for me....to keep seeing myself crossing the finish line... 

Most of all, I'm going to win the race against myself.  I can do it.  I will do it.

Thanks for stopping in, come again soon!!

:D