Running=Running

Sometimes I have to remind myself of that.  It's very hard not to get competitive with yourself (which I do more than with anyone else).  And today I had a crappy run, well let's be real, I've had 3 crappy runs this week.  But crappy runs are better than no runs, so I continue to try and tell myself to count it as victory.

Tuesday I just never hit a stride, my asthma was acting up and I couldn't stay at a good pace.  I wanted to PR on my 10K time and instead I ended up way over, which is always frustrating.  Yesterday I decided to hop on that treadmill (which I love way more than my old one, but it's still a machine inside) and made it two miles.  I rarely lace up for 2 miles anymore, but it was more than no miles and helped to add to my total for the week.  I was just tired of staring at that same old screen and seeing the seconds SLOWLY tick away!  I decided that I was going to run outside today if it killed me and I did.  I put Sugar in her fancy BOB and we took it to the street behind our house, which has lots of pretty houses and I generally love it and I did love being with Sugar and hearing her "talking" as we bounced along.  Still, I never hit a stride today either.  I couldn't seem to really punch it in there.  I didn't pay attention to my training schedule and ended up doing the wrong tempo run, which isn't a big deal, but annoyed me.  It was the slowest I've run in a while, but again, it was miles and I need to be putting them in.

I will say this, I'm not in love with the distances for a marathon and the amount of miles you have to rack up to get there.  It is making this seem more like work than fun at this point, and I'm not sure it's something I'll do again.  That's not to say that I don't fully intend on finishing this bad boy on April 29th with my head held high regardless of time.  I'm just not sure I'll ever have it in me to commit to something so big again.  It makes me sad to spend 3-4 hours running when I could be with Sugar.  Running is still my passion, something that I really love.  I just think from now on I'll probably focus on increasing my speed for shorter distances!

Any encouragement is welcome at this point, as I think these last few weeks are when your mind goes the most crazy and it doesn't help that my big toenail is about to fall off right in time for flip flop season--gross!!  I guess that makes me a real marathon runner!??!  I've seen the shirts that say "Toenails are for Sissies".  I'm not gonna lie people--I like pretty toenails and I'm kinda sad about this!

However, when I saw on Pinterest today "Whether it's a 14 minute mile or a 7 minute mile, it's still a mile", I had to smile and know that that is the truth!  Running=Running!  So run on my friends!!!