I'm Not Ready to Run Just Yet

That's my new mantra for this post and probably for future runs. It was the first time that I have ever said that and I meant it. In the past when we ran at Memorial Park, I'm usually barely making it to the 1 mile marker. Now, this could be due to the heat (we started after 7 p.m. last night) or other factors, but man, I wasn't even read to start walking when we blew past that first mile marker. It wasn't until we got to the 2 mile marker when I started having issues. My back inflamed with pain. The crappiest part out of all of this, I wasn't ready to walk then either. However, my back was getting worse and I had to stop (full stop), which was fine, because Mal had to tighten her shoes. From them on out, I could make it a mile before having to stop to rest my back (although, not full stops).

So, let me tell you about the run. Jodi got their late, but that gave Mal and I time to stretch, strength train, and people watch and boy was there some people watching. That weird guy was sitting in the exact same spot just stretching away. I finally saw him run today. Good looking guys and cute dogs were all around.

Jodi had already mentioned to me that her plan was for us to run 6 miles on this run, but this was the time that I decided to break the news to Mal. She was not happy by far and we came up with a compromise to run 5 miles and then walk the last mile for a big cool down. I was okay with that for sure.

When Jodi finally got there and was ready to go, we started our warmup walk. When we began to run,my right knee (different than the one sore from last week) started to hurt at first, but it went away. Thank God. What I love about Memorial Park is that the runs are really good on the knees (just not the back). At each walking point, we gave eachother a big high-five since it's the sound of friendship. Spread the clap!

I'm proud to say that we did at least 4.5 to 4.75 miles of actual running. If it wasn't for my back, I would have done more and we would have finished in a quicker time. It's okay, because I'm still so proud of all of us, especially Mal and I for not only hitting 4 miles last week for the first time, but jumping up to 6 miles this week. What a great accomplishment. And I'm proud of Mal, because she rarely whined and begged for us to stop like on other runs. She was really getting in to it.

What I learned on this run: 1.) Stretch my back before any future runs. 2.) Bring mosquito repellant of any kind. As soon as we hit this woodsy area on the second lap, I was like chocolate to a bunch of PMSing women (i.e., mosquitos). 3.) I'm getting thinner, because my hubby bit my shoulder and it just pierced me instantly. He complained that I was getting too skinny.

We aren't running today, because I have family obligations. But we are running those weird fartlicks or fartleks or whatever they are called with the word fart in them at Bear Creek Park. See ya there.