7 mile Saturday

I did it.  I actually ran 7 miles.  It has been over a year since I have ran that far and it felt good.  Well, actually it felt quite painful while I was running, but I was so happy after it was over. It was a really slow 7 miles, but I just have to be OK with that for now.  I keep telling myself to focus on mileage, not time, in preparation for the OKC half-marathon in April.  After that race, I plan to focus on more strength and conditioning as well as speed work to increase my speed.  Maybe I will even go back to boot camp.  We'll see.

Anyway, back to yesterday's run.  I spent Friday night reading running blogs for inspiration.  (Side note - my current favorite is the Daily Garnish).  I know that may sound boring to some of you, but reading the running struggles and successes of other people really helps me get motivated.  It reminds me why I love running so much.  After reading these blogs, I went to bed ready to run.

I woke up Saturday by the sound of a text message from my friend, Carlie, who I recently started running with on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.   She was going to run 15 miles that morning and wanted to know if I wanted to meet up for a few.  Perfect, I need to run 7 and a running partner would make that so much easier.  Here is the thing about Carlie, she is fast.  She has ran Boston, so in my mind she is REALLY fast.   While I was really excited about having a running partner for these 7 miles, I could not help but to think, crap now I am going to have to run fast.  Throughout the seven miles, I continued to think that and continued to think I was slowing her down.   I was mentally beating myself up before I even gave myself a chance to succeed.  I wish I could have just relaxed and ran.  In the end, Carlie had graciously slowed down for me and we ended up running the same pace that I would have ran had I ran the entire 7 miles by myself.  So, you see, I got completely worked up over nothing.   Next weekend, I'm scheduled to run 8 and I am making myself a promise that I will just relax and run.

I finished yesterday's run just in time to get home and prepare for my friend Candice's arrival.  She and her husband arrived at 12:30 and we pretty much spent the day hanging out, visiting, and reminiscing about the good ol' days.  Oh, and we had Which  Wich for lunch, yumm!!

Evan had a great time and was such a good baby this weekend.  Now he is catching up on his zzzz's before our big day tomorrow.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.