I RAN 5 MILES!!!

OK, I know I haven't been the world's greatest at updating lately. I had a couple of bad runs that left me feeling weak, slow, and totally unable to complete my task of 6.8 miles that I've committed myself to this Saturday. Up until today, the most I've ever ran straight was a 5k. I've talked to other members of my relay team who were excited because they've had longer runs, which made me even more nervous of my impending failure. Pretty much, I was in a bad state mentally. Even though I knew I had been training for over two months, I didn't mentally think I could do it.

After work today, I decided it was all or nothing. A last chance run if you will. :) My motto has always been go big or go home, so it was time to apply it to my running. I HAD to prove to myself that mentally, I could go longer than 3 miles straight. I went to the same track that gave me such luck the first time I was able to run a 5k straight. The first miles was really rough - I couldn't get my breathing in any sort of rhythm and my brain was shooting out the signals "Whoa! What do you think you're doing? We are stopping this in the next five minutes, do you hear?" I managed the first mile just over 11 minutes and that gave me enough to hit the second mile, and the hill that came with that mile. I felt like I was moving as quick as a snail, and my breathing still sucked, but I kept going by trying to focus on the sound of my feet hitting the pavement. It seemed to work because eventually my IPod said, "Half-way point - 2.5 miles." That seemed to give my brain the signal that we weren't going to stop until I said we were going to stop. Within a few minutes, I was AMAZED because my breathing actually slowed and my legs stopped feeling like cement. It was almost as if my body said, "Fine, we'll do it your way." I don't think it was a runner's high by any means, but surely a running first for me. I realized at that moment, I was going to make it. I had the capacity to keep going, and I did. I DID. Yata! I'm not going to lie either - when my Ipod told me 5 miles was up (in 55:03, an 11 minute mile average!), I bent over and started to cry. I had thrown such a huge mental wall up that I wasn't good enough, quick enough, or had trained enough to go that long. I FINALLY after 2 months over came all of that. Just in the nick of time too, eh? :)

So, needless to say, I'm stoked about the race on Saturday now. I think I can go a new distance PR and run the 6.8 miles straight! My body can do it, and now I think my mind knows that as well. I will surely post sometime after the race and give you all the low down. This is what I've been training for for a while now, and it's almost here. Wish me luck!!!