All by myself

Rise and Shine!!!

Today I woke up bright and early at 7:30am ready for my maintenance run. (These are the runs I have to do 2-3 times a week without my training group)

I put on my running gear and my baseball cap and head out the door. Today was the first day I have had to run by myself. No big deal I thought! I headed for my street to start my run.

I chose Chandler street to run on today. Its a beautiful street by my house filled with estates and trees. 3-1 is my pace so I stayed with that. Here we go! 3 minutes running... feels good I thought. As I am running down Chandler St. the sun is glaring and beating on my skin. WOW its hot already! I cannot think of this so I focused on my breath. I aligned my breath with the pattern of my footsteps. Breathe in 2-3-4 Breathe out 2-3-4. My mind has gone completely blank.

Stillness. That lasted maybe a whole minute. What time is it now? I keep going....

Then comes the sun again. The heat. My muscles are burning and I'm only 15 minutes in. What is happening?! Is this almost over? I look at my clock. Not even close.

I cant understand why my mind is playing such tricks on me. I have gone so much further that this before and been completely fine. Now all I can think is when is this over. I'm too hot and my muscles burn!

Then I realized... I have been in conversations with my partners/team mates the entire time I have been training! It has distracted me from just being with myself. Just being with my body and its sensations.

WOW! This is a challenge for me. Who would have thought?!

So to conclude today's run I ran a total of 35 minutes and about 2.5 miles (I really need to get a stop watch and a mile tracker)

And... I'm taking on this challenge. I will be running 1-2 of my maintenance runs by myself. I think it will be good for me to learn to just be with me and my body.

Bring it on self! LOL:)

p.s I want to thank Chen, Sara, Kimberly, Jenna, Stephen and Pam for your contribution in sponsoring me for this Marathon. It means so much to me. Thank you!!