The Cowtown 10K

Trying to put the feelings going through my head right now into words is difficult. I have so many all at once. Today I ran my first official 10K. I have only run more than 5 miles twice. So I wasn't sure how well I would do. I knew I would finish, that wasn't the question. I wasn't sure if I would finish running or walking. I am happy to report that I was running to the end. 

I was super excited as they started releasing the runners. I couldn't get the smile off of my face. That is so weird to me. I never wanted to run until a year and eight months ago. Something just changed inside of me. I became a runner. 

I knew I wanted to keep an even pace as I ran, but taking advantage of the downhill portions as best I could and when I felt a little extra energy. I did not push myself too hard. I have learned that if I do that it forces me to walk. That was NOT my goal this morning. I wanted to run as much of the race as I could without stopping unless I had to. And I didn't want to walk any of it other than through the water stations, since I prefer to drink my water instead of wear it.

There were four water stations spread out over the 6.2 miles. I skipped the first one. I did not slow my pace until we were right around the corner from mile 3. I did that only so I could drink a small cup of water. I walked through three water stations and I stopped three times to stretch my calves. It helped me to keep going and not walk. My feet did great until after I had crossed the mile 5 marker. Then they started bothering me. But I kept going. The last time I stretched my legs and my feet it didn't help my feet as much as I would have liked.

I know that will be my biggest challenge as I increase my distance for the Half in August. I am going to have to take it slowly and add just a quarter mile a week until I reach that 13 miles. I will increase my weight training so that I can get stronger and build muscle at the same time that I increase my distance.

My last mile was the slowest but still a good time. My tracker says I finished it in 1 hour and 22 minutes. That is amazing to me! I usually take a little bit longer, probably five minutes or so longer. Once I got over the finish line and stopped running my excitement returned two fold. I DID IT. I really did it. And I did it in record time, for me. 

I have signed up for a couple of 5K's, one in March and one in April but I am going to be working on training for the Half during this time. My goal is to run three days a week. Tuesdays - 4 miles. Thursdays - 5 miles and Saturday or Sunday depending on when I can run - 6 miles plus .25 of a mile more each week. I know that will take a long time to build up to 13.1 miles but I have until August 2 to accomplish it. I also plan to do weight/strength training three days a week; Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. I also want to have one day that I will be doing stretching and rolling exercises to stay limber and help prevent injury. That will be whatever day is my off day, Saturday or Sunday. I will add a walk on that day, when possible. 

My eating is something I need to keep working on. Doing more running and more weights is going to cause me to become even more hungry. So I need to feed my body healthy things that will keep me strong and not make me gain weight, only muscle. I can't wait to see the progress I will make by the beginning of summer and beyond. I just have to keep my mind focused and not get off track. 

I hope you have set some goals for yourself. We all need to be more active and eat better. It isn't as hard as we make it. One step at a time. One day at a time. You can do it!

Changing my life one day at a time. 

Desires Of Your Heart

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

Do you know the verse? What do you think it means? What has it come to mean to you? I would love to share the insight the Lord gave me this morning on my daily run in the park. I have said many times that running has never been my thing. Whenever anyone mentioned running my automatic response has always been "I can't run". I honestly believed I couldn't. I was terrible at it in school and never realized that I could take it slowly and get better at it or even want to run.

Here is where this verse comes in. The Lord has created in me a desire to run. He has shown me that it is something I want to do and can get better at. Eleven weeks ago, God placed a new desire in my heart. It started as a little glimmer of an idea from a friend who said she was going to run in a 5K in February. All of a sudden, it sounded like an awesome idea. I wanted to do that. I looked up the Couch to 5K and found a treadmill version. I spend the next 9 weeks running on that treadmill at the pace they set forth for each of the three days a week. I even added a day or two each week from time to time. I didn't JUST run the three days a week that I had to on the plan but I even chose to run MORE than required. ME. Running. WOW! 

I have to say that running outside has really changed things in another way. I don't just want to run because it is what I am supposed to do because I signed up for the 5K already. It is something I get up extra early to do and even WANT to do. I have even added to the amount of time and distance that I am running. I use a new app that helps me keep up with it and I push myself because I know I can do it and feel wonderful afterwards. I have been running outside for two weeks now. 

Can I picture myself running a 10K? Before today, I couldn't. But since I ran 4 miles today, who says I can't up that and actually run 6 miles at some point? I CAN do it! I know if I keep running each week and increase my time little by little I can also add to my distance in the hour that I have to run. It has become a desire of my heart. 

As I was running this morning, a joy filled my heart as I listened to my worship music (I spend my run time worshiping the Lord every step of the way). I realized that HE put the joy in my heart to run, the desire. And I realized that when I decide ahead of time what I am going to do, I do it. On Wednesday, I decided before my run that I would run the whole 3 miles without stopping. Today, I decided before my run that I could run the extra two laps and run the 4 miles. I didn't let myself quit because I made the choice before I got out there. I even got up five minutes earlier so I would have extra time to run if I ran at a slower pace. I actually ran at a faster pace than the other times so I was able to complete the 4 miles in under an hour. 

It is my desire to become stronger and healthier so I can live a longer and better life with my family. I have changed the way I eat and changed the way I move. I am making small but long term changes in the way I live and how my body looks. I can't wait to get to the weight I am going to stay at. But that will not be the end of the road on this running journey. It will only be the beginning. Thanks for coming along on the ride with me and cheering me on. It means a lot. 

Changing my life, one day at a time.