Last monday I told you how I -somehow- have managed to run faster...without piling up the miles!
This weekend I had decided to run and try out again the -no distance- mindset. I'm normally doing the "long" runs on saturdays so I can take sunday off and well -don't hate me- hit the beach every weekend.
But as you know life is full of fun unplanned stuff and friday night a bunch of my girls and I got together to celebrate all of this month's birthdays (4 birthdays total). Friday night + birthday celebration + 90's music...you do the math.
Saturday's run wasn't happening.
I woke up and decided to have a lazy morning. No making the bed, no doing the dishes and no showering allowed. I wondered why I felt so tired and it was no surprise when that very day I got the monthly visit. I know this must be too much information to share but what the heck... when I'm in THAT time of the month I lose my will to do anything...I even lose my appetite! It all got better once I turned on the TV because there was a Sex and the City marathon. Every episode from start to finish and that is how I spent my day.
Sunday was running day -clearly!-
This is what San Salvador looked like by 4:00 PM.
My plan was to go running at 5 in the afternoon so I didn't want to really call it quits until the clock hit 5. God, nature and life must really support running because I got clear skies and decided to go out. It was too risky to go out for a full hour so I decided that a 45-minute run would be perfect.
I ran 8.36 KM which is a little more than 5 miles...in 45 minutes!! even Nike+ acknowledge I had run my fastest mile.
Now, I want to be clear...I am running faster which is great but I'm not going to try and get better at it and this is why: I've put too much pressure on me before and I don't want to do that anymore. I want to keep running fun.
Numbers are a way to measure your progress and even though I couldn't be happier about this "new me" the truth is running faster is simply not my goal right now. I have been prone to injuries in the past so I want a slower but stronger progress and most important I want to learn to set and keep my own goals.
As a runner you can easily get very competitive with others. You may have heard conversations and comments like: "Oh I ran 10KM today" "Really, well I ran 11KM yesterday" "You don't do speed work? argh" "Running on the treadmill is not really running"
I don't want to get into that. You should be able to run on the treadmill, train for a marathon or power walk daily and no one should be judging your workouts and your goals and YOU shouldn't be comparing yourself with others. So what if your friend, sister or a blogger ran 15K as a morning run...so what? you should never feel less accomplished because you "only ran 3KM"
Have you been one of those "I only ran" runners? Have you felt less of a runner because you compare yourself with others? I know I have and I don't want to put myself in that place anymore. What do you say? Are you with me?
Let's keep running fun! Let's keep things not complicated. Let's start the week with a different mindset!
