Life is a beautiful thing

What started out as an awful run turned into my best run yet. I got out there and started running, but pretty much like every other time my run started off with negative thoughts swirling around in my brain. Why was I doing this? Was I ever going to be good at it? Would it ever feel good? Would I ever be able to breathe and run at the same time? Keep in mind this was going on when I was about 1 minute into the first 3 minute segment. I was feeling very discouraged, as I often do, because my next goal is to run for 30 minutes or a 5k without stopping.

Let me stop here to remind myself along with you all that 6 weeks ago running for 90 seconds was tough. On the one hand I’m amazed that I’m now running 3-5 minutes without stopping because THAT seemed so out of reach in the beginning. I spend most of my time on the other hand, though, thinking that running 3 minutes is not remotely close to running for 30.

When I started into my 5 minute segment I was feeling a little bit better. Not great, but 5 minutes didn’t seem TOO much harder than 3. The negative thoughts were still swirling. Was it really worth it? Would I ever be a REAL runner? etc.

My last segment was 5 minutes. I was feeling more positive. I was feeling like I can do this 5k. I was feeling pretty good about life. And at the end of the 5 minutes I decided to keep running. I just wanted to see if I could run for another 5 minutes. AND I DID. If you know me & if you live in my head when I run you know this is possible proof that my body has been taken over by an alien life form. I ran (jogged) that extra 5 minutes and it honestly wasn’t any harder. I was keeping my mind on my Chi Running form, and thinking that it felt good and it did. IT FELT REALLY GOOD. I could have gone on a little longer, but I was feeling pretty positive and didn’t want to jinx myself.

And now I know that next week when I bump the running up to 8 minute segments, I’ll be able to do it, no questions asked. Life is a beautiful thing.