What am I doing?

Seriously, what am I doing? Why am I not totally psyched up anymore? Why did I only run once this week? Why did today's run feel like such a struggle? Today was 5 miles. I went to bed early last night so I could get up to meet the group at 8am. Glad to be facing an entire summer of no going out on Friday night because I have to get up to run in the morning :( Anyway, I thought I could knock out 5 miles if I kept my pace nice and slow. Let me tell you, that was not the case!!! I felt good through mile one. Miles 2 and 3 were a serious struggle. Getting to that halfway point never felt so long! By just past mile 3, I started to fall into auto-pilot and it was SERIOUSLY a welcome feeling. At that point, I thought I had it in the bag! Then came Mile 4. And I kid you not, this happened about 5 feet from the 4 mile marker. I got the worst stitch in my side EVER! Yes, ever!! It hurt to just breathe! I had to stop. I could barely walk without doubling over. It was crazy! I tried to keep a decent walking pace once it started to subside, but it still hurt pretty bad. I got to 4.5 miles and knew I couldn't walk my way to the finish, I had to run. So, I sucked it up and ran the last half mile through the pain. Wow...it sucked. Truly.

Most of all, I'm really disappointed in myself. I'm not surprised by the outcome. You can't run for 35 minutes the entire week and think you can just knock out 5 miles. I need to seriously commit to this. I need to make sure that I follow the schedule this week. No matter the weather, no matter what time I get home from work. All running must happen. Because next week is 6 miles. I want to run those 6 miles like they are cake!

I am a Rock Star!!!

Why, you ask? Because at 7:20am this morning, I made the decision to bag the first training run on account of the ridiculous temperatures. I even went as far as to start writing a blog about what a wimp I was. And then, out of nowhere, I just shut down the computer, ran and put clothes on and went!!! Yes, I went! It was 21 degrees with a wind chill of 8! I'm sure it was worse on the lake because that wind was blowing like you would not believe!

I will say that those may have been the most brutal 3 miles of my life! Especially the last one. It seemed like the wind was blowing head on pretty steady. I couldn't feel my legs or my hands. I'm still chilled to the bone as I sit here and write this. I finished with a 10 1/2 minute mile pace. I can live with that seeing as the conditions were so horrible...that, and the fact that I haven't run in 2 weeks :) I'd like to make my marathon pace a 10 minute mile, but we'll see.

The group seems cool. Mostly young people. Mostly fast people :) I think only about 20 showed up today, which I'm hoping is due to the weather. We are going to need way more than 20 to have a serious supportive group! By the end of the training, there will probably be only 1/3 of us left. But dammit, I will be one! Mark my words!!! Okay, now I'm off to ice my knees because these temperatures made them ache like never before!

Off to a great start!

Saturday: Windy. Snow flurries and a few snow showers throughout the day. Cold. High near 35F. Winds NW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of snow 30%.

Yeah...that is the forecast for my first run with the training group! That sounds so inviting! I'm already halfway planning to not go. Who wants to go out on the lake in that? Not even any buildings to shelter you! Oh goodness...I don't want to not go. But hey, I don't want to go either! :)