Wednesday Morning Run

Wednesday, May 16

I had my first morning group run this morning – 6:30 am. If you know me, you know that of the many things I Am, I am NOT a morning person, so this was a bit of a struggle. I woke up, knowing that Kate and Michelle weren’t going to make it to the training. I laid in bed around 6am contemplating not going, but then this little voice in my head wouldn’t Shut Up – "I’m doing this to raise money for cancer, if people are going to donate to me, I’ve got to do my very best and push through. There are so many people who are in pain and struggling from cancer, how can I complain because I have to get up early?" And on and on until I pushed myself out of bed and walked out the door. Wisely, I slept in my workout clothes so that all I had to do is roll out of bed J Some may call that lazy, but I call it "preplanning".

No water, no breakfast, no coffee. Just me and my pajama workout clothes.

We met at the downtown YMCA at 6:30. Coach Dinah was early, as usual, and 4 other participants joined us. We walked to the downtown middle school to run 2 miles (8 laps) around the track. I was a little disappointed to run around a track. I thought we’d be running through neighborhoods, listening to birds in the crisp morning air, running by neighbors walking their dogs. It ended up being good though. While running in a circle can be very boring – same scenery, same noises, same track – it was nice to encourage and be encouraged by my teammates. Plus, I’m pretty competitive, so it helped me to try and keep pace with other people when I could see them on the other side of the track. To be honest, I’m really driven by the fact that I don’t want to be last. I don’t really care how fast I run, I just want to make sure it’s faster than Someone (and preferably two other people). I might have to trip someone during the actual marathon, but I’m willing to make that sacrifice. Michelle runs with me usually, so it might be her that has to take the tumble >:}

The fact that we can’t run with headphones or music felt like a big setback last week. I think we all planned on just zoning out to the music. Now I’ve got to zone out to myself…. which is a scary thought. It’s really nice having Michelle to run with usually, since we keep a similar pace and can keep conversation going. That made todays run a little tougher, but I still made it: 2 miles with only a quarter of a quarter where I walked (just around the curved part of the track). And I was able to put my thoughts somewhere else for most of it. It’s a lot like meditating, separating mind from body. I’m interested to see how that works as our distances get much longer. This summer is going to be Hot too. Dinah said that as our runs get longer, we’ll have to start running Earlier (aghhh) to avoid the heat. I was encouraged when Doug, another runner, mentioned that your body gets used to the mornings eventually. I have mixed feelings about that.

We took a little too long with this morning run. I didn’t get home until almost 8 and had to rush to get ready. I still made time to make some poached eggs (my Fav), coffee and whole wheat toast. All in all it was a good start to the morning.