Wednesday Workout Update

I ran less miles last week - about 8.5 - but considering that I only did intervals on Saturday, I ran more of those miles than ever before.  It's becoming evident to me that the distance, while still a physical challenge, is more of a mental thing to me...I'm holding myself back, and I'm sure a lot of that is fear of hurting myself again.  I've got to get over that.  Each time I complete a run, I feel like I dodged a bullet, which is a little ridiculous at this point as I'm fine.  Any little twinge I feel is just a normal part of running.  I don't have to baby myself any more.  Gah - sometimes I think I need to write "YOU'RE FINE" on my forearm so I can be reminded of that during my long run!

The run on Saturday was 4.5 miles and I'm happy to report that I made it to the end - the picture below was taken after we finished.  I ran for a mile, then walked for a minute, times infinity.  OK, not that long, but it began to feel like it, especially when I had to keep running beyond the mile markers that Coach Dale had set out, because I was actually covering a mile PLUS about 300 feet (for that minute of walking) - that started to mess with my mind a bit.  So I think that for the next long run, I'll completely abandon any set walking breaks and just go with the flow and see how far I can push myself (mentally as will as physically, because no matter what, I usually want to stop running about 20 feet into it) before I need to take a quick breather.

As it was St. Patrick's Day on Saturday, I dressed for the occasion...would you expect anything less of me?  Haha, I think not.  Naturally, I wore as much green as possible - after the run Coach Jessica was standing next to me and observed that even my pony-tail holder was green...in fact, I was wearing green in seven  places  - can you pick out all seven (hint: I'm pointing to another)?

Warm enough to break out my running skirt, Casper-legs be damned, lol!

The pictures above show some of my favorite parts about running:  we've just finished a long run, we're standing around for a little bit rehashing everything, my body is good and tired, I feel like I've accomplished something, and it's only 8:30 on a Saturday morning!