A Traveler's Charm

Ran my first 16-miler over the weekend. 'Twas good. Couple days later, I ran a 4+ miler hella hard.

I went through a bad lull in running over the summer/beginning of the school year. I kept putting off running because I thought I was too tired to do it. Then, when I did go running, I had all the mental blocks of a first time runner. I let it get to me. I almost stopped running altogether thinking that it just is not  possible with a first-year teacher schedule.

And then I just did it -- I went from running 3-5 miles here and there to running 8 miles in one go. It wasn't great; I didn't get that nice, "in the zone", plateau feeling until about mile 5 or so when it usually kicks in after mile 2. But I got there eventually. That was exactly what I needed to be reminded of to get me back into running. A few days later, I ran a 7-miler in the middle of the week, which is the longest mid-week run I've ever done.

And then I ran the longest weekend run I've ever done. w00t.

That run gave me a lot of time to think and not think. I won't get too into the whole not-thinking that happens when I run right now. We'll save that for later. For now, here are my thoughts:

-I'm no longer afraid to push my body to its limits. I'm not afraid to run until I'm panting, gasping, and heaving for air. I spend a lot of days out of the weekend being afraid of what will happen when I get show up to work. Running is a time that I get to not be afraid of something that I know will challenge me.
-There's no such thing as an imperfect run. Every run -- fast, slow, long distance, short distance -- just is what it is, and is good for my mental and physical state .
-Taking a long break from running did not set me back. I'm picking up exactly where I left off, mile-time-wise. My time isn't great, but I'm lookin' to improve myself. On the one hand, I could look at it pessimistically and say that I'm behind schedule and that I should be a much better runner than I was in March since it is now September, but on the other hand... I don't really care. Whatever. I'm proud of myself. Go April.