"Unless you puke, faint, or die - keep going!"
~ Jillian Michaels ~
Today I went out for a run. The weather was pretty good. Warm - not super-sunny or anything, just nice. Early on, I had a destination in mind. I wasn't sure if I was going to reach it, but I wanted to try! For those of you who live near me, I started at the state capitol (WV). I was seriously thinking of running all the way down the boulevard to Patrick St. Now, I wasn't sure what the mileage was, but, I knew it was going to be a LONG run. Probably longer than I had EVER run. I knew the mileage to a certain point, and knew I could totally bail when I got there. It was about 5K (out & back). Even if I did that, hey - that's still a good run!
I cranked my "Fee" Pandora station and hit the road. I felt great. I mean, seriously - I hadn't worked out AT ALL this week! I should've been feeling good...haha! I've been sooo terrible this week. Anyway, I easily made it to the 5K possible turn-around. But.......I did decide to keep going. I was feeling good... I had run up & down some steps along the river (for those unfamiliar - there's an upper & lower path), to dodge downed trees from all of our storms lately! I was having fun! However, at about mile 3... I was starting to poop out a little. I knew I was hitting 5K - which is what I'm used to. That's where the above quote kicked in. "Unless you puke, faint, or die - keep going!" I wasn't puking...obviously hadn't fainted or died....so, I kept going! It was so hard! I got to Patrick St. and was seriously thirsty. I hadn't planned that part out well. I ran over to Subway really fast - and a nice man gave me some water. Awesome. I chugged a few cupfuls and quickly did a Google map search to see my distance. It was at 4 miles. I wondered if I could run it back. I knew I would be at 8 miles! I thought that maybe I'd walk.....but I really wanted to run it!
I went for it. To keep myself running - I told myself - If you start to walk - you're going to run up each flight of stairs - TWICE! (BTW - there's a lot of flights along that 4 mile stretch!). So, I kept running! And running....at Magic Island I ran all the way out around the island. I didn't take the easy straight shot path! I didn't take it easy on myself! I was chased by a little yappy dog....and I swear - I almost tripped over that dog 3 times! Ha! Finally some little girl came chasing after the dog and rescued me! I should also mention - it started sprinkling at random times during the first part of the run - but kept stopping. It was about this point that it started again. I was probably a good 2 1/2 - 3 miles away from my car. I started plotting stopping points........but kept running! The sprinkling continued....and picked up. By this point - it was pretty cloudy-looking. I was about 1 1/2 miles away from the car when it started raining. I couldn't help but think - Thanks God...that will definitely keep me going! I don't want to get soaked. That, and the quote kept me going. Finally, I could see capitol in the distance, and I just kept plugging away.
It was NOT easy, by any means, but I did it! When I got home - I mapped my route. Sure enough - 8 miles! Way more than I've ever run before! I seriously feel great......and feel I'm already looking forward to running tomorrow! Ha! I'm so glad I stuck it out. It's really cool to push yourself and see what you're capable of! For anyone interested - I ran it in just under 2 hours. Around 14 minute miles. Not great, but I wasn't looking for speed today...just finishing what I'd started!
To some....this is not a big deal. For me - it FIRES me up! I'm already plotting... I'm thinking of trying out the "Bridge to 10K" training app. I've looked at it, but didn't think I was ready for it. Now I'm thinking it just might be time! :)
Hope you're having a great weekend!
