Yes. I Believe I'm Finally A Runner.

I just realized I didn't post a "Monday's Thought For The Day" today. Whoops. That's what happens when your schedule is all flipped around. As always, better late than never.

The ran went great yesterday. Upon lining up for the race I noticed a woman that was also at OROC. She was pregnant at OROC and zoomed right past me. My mouth just dropped. Not so much that she's running while pregnant (I know that people do that all the time), but that she passed me with so much vigor. Well, she's still pregnant and I was determined to keep up with her. I did pretty well. It was a loop course, so by 1.5 miles the leaders went passed us. She turned to me and said, "Doesn't that make you feel good?" It's then that I got the nerve to ask if she participated in OROC (I definitely knew she had, but it was the only way for me to strike up a conversation). She said that she had and so I told her my story of her passing me. She stated that at that point she was still keeping a good pace. Her normal pace is under 7 minutes/mile(Holy crap!) and she usually runs marathons but has since backed off due to her pregnancy (like we had thought). Only two more months then she'll be back to her higher mileage. I gave her props. Runners amaze me more and more each day. As you can only imagine I still couldn't keep up with her the entire race but I tried and may not have succeeded but did a darn good job at least trying. I feel we were also at a better starting point amongst the crowd, than OROC, because instead of being passed I was maintaining my position or even passing people. Me, passing people? Ya heard right.

It was quite chilly. I'm still mastering the whole dressing for the weather thing. With my run journal it's helped me figure out what to wear depending on the temperature, weather, and time. It's coming along. It was in the high 40's. I had my ADIDAS jacket and pants along with an Under Armour top, gloves, and a hat. Looking at everyone else I was totally overdressed. For the most part I was comfortable until the end when the sun started shining bright. One problem with running when it's dark...you don't deal with the sun. 48 degrees with no sun is different than 48 degrees with sun. I have to get my body used to being cold at first knowing that I will be "comfortable" by the end, instead of being comfortable to begin with and overheated by the end. I'm learning and my body's adjusting. It will just take time.

It was an enjoyable course. It ran from the high school over to Beaver Creek which is a paved path, and back. It consisted of some hills. Mostly steady inclines over time. But not too many or for too long of a length. At 2 miles David took off so I finished on my own. I'm getting much better with my self-talking at this mileage. I consider that an improvement because I used to need David to keep me going at 3 miles. I know when I add more mileage I'll more than likely need David to kick me in the butt again though. Upon finishing I thought I had done significantly better than I did at OROC. Come to find out that it was only about 20-30 seconds off of my time (cross referencing the Garmin, chip times, and records). Ah well. But 20 seconds is 20 seconds. As usual I'm not so much going for time. And any improvement is a positive addition. As John Bingham encourages.....don't worry about how fast or how far you go, what others see you as, what others think, or worry what others do. Just feel proud that you have the courage to start. I'm glad I had the courage to start. Now with 2 5k's under my belt and 6 months with a steady, committed running schedule I have the courage to call myself a runner. Boy, that feels good.

Next up....The Nakon Foundation Turkey Dash 5K on Thanksgiving morning.