Reaping the Benefits

Yesterday I didn't mean to take off, but it happened. Between a dump trip, lunch with the sis, taking furniture from my mom's, and coffee-dessert with a friend, I ran out of time to run. Yes, yes, I could have pulled myself together at 8:00 after listening to my roommate's epic post-drinking story from her weekend, but...I didn't.

So I worked extra hard today to appease the running gods.

I did three miles, post a half-mile warm up. Waking up this morning, I was excited to hit the road. I chugged my morning glasses of water and juice in order to get out sooner. I donned my running suit, turned on my Zune, and was ready for action. I almost skipped my half-mile warm up just so I could get jogging sooner!

The first mile of a jog went well, my legs were fairly tired, but still moving. I decided to try a "Pick Up" which is where you increase your speed for a short-ish amount of time. Not a sprint, but just picking up the pace. I was fairly confident, giving my excitment to be out running, that I was going to murder this pick up and leave all future pick ups shaking in fear.

I was wrong. Felt like I was going to vomit afterwards. I jogged for a little bit, but had to take a walk to catch my breath. I jogged a couple blocks more, and went in for pick-up number two. This time, I OWNED it. And the entire second half of my jog went like that. After my third pick-up I was fairly out of breath and walked a couple of blocks, but it wasn't as bad as the first one.

I think today may have been the first day that I felt the benefits of running. The accomplishment and pride you feel knowing that you owned it. Even if you only owned it for three blocks, at one point, you owned that run. So way to go body! I'm proud of you!