May Days

I'm here.

I can't even remember the last time I posted! However, I am pretty certain I have run, at the most, about 10 miles a week, if that. Instead of blogging, I've been enjoying the escapades of other running, home decor, and food blogs. Vicarious living, gotta dig it.

However, seeing people cross the finish line at Boston, reading about how other full time working moms can wake up at 4am to get in a run, drooling over the time consuming and creative home inspirations of oh so talented women across the country really has got me thinking, These people are busy, have children, husbands, families, hobbies, responsibilities, some way more than me.

Why do I let myself make excuses?

Sure, I'm busy with home life, working full time, commuting 2 hrs a day, having active kids and a social life, but..

Who isn't?

Beth is one of my favorite bloggers, because she truly does keep it real. Her latest most on not having motivation really resonated with me, because.. well.

I don't have any.

What I have are excuses.

At this time last year, I was running the Tacoma City Half Marathon. It was a tough race and I barely made it through, half trained, discouraged and heavier than I would have liked to be. Last year at the end of the race, I vowed to redeem myself in 2015.

The race was this morning, and I didn't run it.

After the Seattle half last December, I let myself take a break. I was tired of waking up at 4am, weary and sore all of the time. I just wanted to take back the joy of running so I just cut back. Instead, I cut it out. I started to make excuses, i.e. I'm tired, bloated, busy, sore, hungry, tired, tired.., and then I just got used to life without running or any form of exercise.

I told myself I'd start in January.. then February, OH and then March. April? I could train for a half in one month. I've done four, what is one more, right? Honestly, I just got complacent and lazy. I convinced myself I wasn't made to run.

Today is May 3rd, and for this month I have run 6 miles. Yesterday I ran 3 afternoon miles in the sunshine. It is the first time in a very long time that I have run outside solo. I have been squeezing in some nice, very slow runs with my neighbor friend, but it's been mainly to catch up on our week and have some girl time. I rarely even break a sweat, but I still love our time together. Yesterday, as I was running into the wind, sunshine beating down on my face and my scarily pale legs, I felt, for the first time in a long time, happy to be moving, to be running, music blaring in my ears and my heart pumping out of my chest. I admit, I struggled and had to stop a couple of times, mainly because I am sick and unable to breathe out of my nose (Excuse? maybe...) but I finished feeling achy, sweaty and satisfied. My splits aren't anything to be bragging about, but I felt happy to just be out there, legs moving and arms pumping.

Mile 1 -  9:13
Mile 2 - 9:18
Mile 3: 9:22
Mile .12: - 7.22

Avg Pace: 9:13

This morning I struggled through 3 miles on the treadmill, and again had to stop a few times with my feet on the side rails so I could take a deep breathe, or cough out some gunk. But I got to the 3 mile mark, and then finished with a short HIIT workout on YouTube. I'm trying to slowly get back in the game here.