Week 2, Day 1 - Bring it on!

The weather report last night predicted rain this morning, so I was mentally preparing myself for a run in the rain.  As is part of my new routine, I lay out EVERYTHING I will need to get ready in the morning- clothes, socks, shoes, hat, iPod, headphones, inhaler, and in this case, rain jacket.  I find that if I can just get out of bed and get ready without having to think about anything, I don't have the chance to psych myself out.  So I went to bed last night prepared, and fell asleep with positive thoughts of running in the rain and kicking week two's ass!

As it turns out, I may be getting better at running, but our local weatherman is getting no better at predicting the weather.  It was a gorgeous, crisp morning with blue skies.  I did, however, have a few strikes working against me.  First, I was experiencing a lot of pain and stiffness in my right shoulder and neck and couldn't fully turn my head.  Second, my monthly visitor decided to pop in a bit early.  I was not giving in though.  If my kids had not been sleeping along with most of my neighbors, I may just have looked up to the sky and screamed, "Is that all you've got?"  No way I was going down.  I did some stretching,  slipped on my headphones, and began listening to the week 2 Chubby Jones Podcast. 

I started my 5 minutes of brisk walking and stopped half way through just long enough to stretch my legs and calves a bit more before the running began.  I had very bad shin splints in high school and since then, I make very sure to stretch out the muscles in my lower legs really well.  Finally Mia came on and told me to start running.  I will not sit here and pretend that I wasn't scared of this workout.  Even with all my positive thinking, I was still very worried about adding 30 seconds to my run time.  The first leg went very well though.  I noticed the additional run time, but I didn't feel like I was going to die.  The 2 minutes of walking even seemed to be a totally sufficient amount of time between runs. 

Without a doubt, I am not the fastest jogger.  I imagine many of you out there are jogging faster than I do.  My goal at this point isn't to run the fastest 5K, but rather to just be able to run 5K.  Once I can do that, I'll work on getting faster, but for now, I'm not feeling pressure to win any races.  That being said, I am pushing myself and I'm sweating and short of breath and feeling it, but you know what, I did it.  I made it through the entire workout and never for one minute felt like I needed to stop or couldn't go on.  Finally, Mia came back on and counted down the last few seconds of running.  I was still a little less than a mile from home, so I kept walking and switched my iPod over to an audio book.  And let me tell you, I loved that last 10 minutes of just walking, listening to the narrator read to me, breathing heavy at first as I went along and cooling down to nice deep, cleansing breaths. 
I feel so accomplished.  I feel so proud of myself.  I feel so ready to take on my day.  I say it to myself.  I say it to others.  I feel it.  I know it.  I CAN DO IT!