Week 4, Day 1 - I have to do what?

I am so very glad that I didn't read ahead to today's workout ahead of time.  It would have given me far too much time to fret.  The task seemed very daunting to me:  3 minutes of running, followed by 90 seconds of walking followed by 5 minutes of running and then repeat it all again.  I decided that my best approach would be to get a lot of extra warm up and stretching in advance, so I walked for quite a while before I stopped and got in a great stretch session.  Then I started the Chubby Jones week 4 podcast and got moving once again. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the first eight minutes of running went extremely well.  In fairness, part of the first 5 minute run was downhill, so that helped, but I was feeling good at the end.  The vengefully fast 90 seconds of walking between runs seemed too short, but  isn't it always?  The next three minutes were good, but I was starting to slow down a bit.  But oh boy, that last 5 minutes really killed me.  I did OK for the fir 2 minutes, but then I was really hitting the wall.  I really had to push myself.  Mia kept coming on to be encouraging and was pushing for a last kick of speed to end the run, but there was no reserves for me to do that.  I made it the full distance, but man, it exhausted me.  I walked for a while afterwards.  I just needed to keep moving, albeit, very slowly.  I even passed my house and kept walking because I felt the need to keep cooling down.  I wanted to have my breath back and feel human again when I got home.  I was at a particularly enthralling place in my audio book, so the extra time was nice.

So, I'm home now, baby is napping and my husband took our son to a baseball game. I have utter silence and solitude and I didn't even need to lace up my running shoes to get it. So on that note, I will leave you for today. I am tired and glad for a day of rest, but feel sure the next run will be even better.  I would have found it impossible to believe a month ago that I was capable of finishing a run like today's.  I need to remember that going forward, because bigger and more difficult challenges await me!  No matter what though, I'll be out there, working hard and trying to make myself a stronger and healthier person because I know that I CAN DO IT!