I am Stoked!

Woohoo! I am so glad I went for a run this morning.  I almost did not.  I wanted to just stay in bed, even if i was fully awake at that time and even if I had an early night.  Just thinking of my past poor running performances was so discouraging.  I have been trying to complete a 5 km run for what seems to me like an eternity and save for that one time I was able to complete the 5 km with the one minute walk, I have not been able to do it again.  In fact, it seemed that I was regressing instead of improving.

I was feeling frustrated on the drive to the memorial park this morning, expecting another less than stellar performance from me.  Not that I have been aiming for stellar, haha, but I'd like to be able to complete that 5 km easily.

I started nice and easy, small strides...trying to keep in mind to land on the balls of my feet ( I hope I'm doing the POSE method right).  I tried not to think too much of my breathing and just let it come naturally, find the technique which will work for me.  Hmm, short shallow breaths seem to work good for me...the moment I try to suck in too much air, I start to tire and my lungs feel like they will explode - I must keep in mind to stop doing that.

We went for the 3.6 km lap we mapped out.  My thinking was, if I can finish this lap, then all I had to do was complete a small part of the 2nd lap to get my 5 km.  I hit the portion of the lap which gave me the hardest time - hmmm...I'm still okay...Yes!  We ran up the bridge...no shortness of breath...amazing!  The last 200 or so meters to complete the loop is also usually difficult for me but I was still okay this time - wow! On to my 2nd lap - I knew when I got to a certain portion of the lap that I finally reached my 5 km goal.  I was so happy I wanted to shout, YES!  And I was still feeling okay at that point, in fact, I was feeling better than that - I felt great!

Decided to try to finish that 2nd lap...slow and easy...I made it.  YES! I made it. 7.2 km in 57 minutes.  Now, that may be peanuts to all those elite and experienced runners but today it felt to me like a breakthrough and I just want to bask in the good feelings of having finally been able to achieve my goal and more.

Am I ever so glad I got out of bed today to run.