The Perfectly Imperfect Parent

 

1/2 training-week 1 & 2

 

Well I am now into week 2 of my half marathon training. I want to blog about this so I remember the whole training process, the good, the bad and the ugly, ha!

Week 1 started 2 Saturday’s ago. Our whole group (running group from the YMCA) met up at 5:40 a.m. and ran 4 miles. This run started out bad for me because I dropped my phone right when we started and the battery fell out so I am trying to run (to keep up with the group) and put my phone back together. I kept thinking “well this is a shit way to start training!” I finally gave up and held the pieces of my phone in my hand the entire run. That means I had NO MUSIC!! I have to have music when I run, it totally gets me through it (hi Pandora, I love you!)

But I did the 4 miles, and it was good. I felt good about it. It is so great to have this large group of people to run with. We don’t all run at the same pace, but it’s just great to have people all around you and everyone is just cheering each other on, you pass someone and say “good job so-and-so, doin good” (and of course sometimes YOU get passed)!! We are all out there for the same goal, we are all feeling pain, we are all tired, we are all hot, it’s just good to know you’re not alone. Plus you talk to people you may have never gotten to know and you talk about the most RANDOM stuff!!

That next week we had a training calendar that we had to follow on our own. I did ok, but didn’t get a chance to run on Tuesday because I was at the Get Motivated seminar all day. Friday is a rest day since our long runs are on Saturday’s. I thought it would be hard to give up my Friday nights (not that I do that much on Friday’s, I don’t, but usually that’s the night that I stay up late and blog, or watch a movie) but now I am in bed by 10. It was a little tough this past Friday because a bunch of Josh’s friends were in town for a golf tourney and they were all at Willies drinking and having fun. However, I am committed to this and these are just the sacrifices I have to make.

Saturday was another group run at 5:40 a.m. and this time is was 5 miles! This is the farthest I have ran so I was nervous, but I had new shoes, and a new arm-band (not dropping my phone THIS week, oh hell no!) so I felt more prepared. We have been running out to a certain point, then will turn around and come back to where we started. I like this because once you hit that turn-around point you know you are on the home stretch. Well now that the runs are longer I just have to tell myself “ok here is the turn-around point from last week, just go a little bit farther this week and you will be fine.” So that got me through the 5 miles and will probably be what gets me through the 6 miles this weekend. (Yup…6!)

I am on day 3 of my new training calendar (we get a new schedule each week after our group runs that say what we have to do on our own for the week). Monday was a 45 minute run so I had planned on going at 6 a.m. to beat the heat but didn’t make it out until 6:30. It wasn’t bad when I started, but man once I was towards the end of my run the sun was UP and it was HOT! Tuesday was an easy day……and by that I mean only 30 minutes. I did this inside on the treadmill, but pretty sure 30-35 min is the max I can handle on a treadmill.

Today I got up at 4 a.m…………..yup 4 freakin o’ clock!! There is a group that runs together every morning at 4:30 and they have been trying to get me to go with them and I usually just laugh in their faces (or via text). But we had 40 minutes to run today and I knew if I waited till 6 again it was going to be hot so I sucked it up and went………..it was still hot, and HUMID! Truthfully I only did 30 minutes, but seriously I was dripping in sweat and felt like I was being suffocated! I think I may go to yoga tonight so I will just jump on a treadmill real fast for 10 minutes before class if I do.

My body is starting to feel some pain. I am going farther and longer than I have ever ran before and I know my body is just trying to adjust to it. I need to be very diligent with stretching and icing my knees (which I am doing as I type this, it feels so good!!) But it’s a good kind of pain, it’s the kind of pain that you are proud of because you know it means you worked hard. Pax asked me why I was icing my knees last night and I said “cause they hurt” and he said “are you old?” Ha!

I am glad I decided to do this, I am meeting a lot of new people, doing things I never thought I would do  (such as setting my alarm for 4 a.m.) and having fun (who knew!!) Most important, that voice in my head that said I couldn’t do this, that stupid voice is getting quieter and quieter as I prove to myself that I CAN do it and I AM doing it!