Feb 22 Are You Going To Be A Wimp...Or Are You... -Boston 2012

"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'"

- Peter Maher, Canadian marathon runner

It was hard to get up today for my early run.  I think my body was looking for some more sleep.  Have a lot of things going through my mind and this stress kept me up longer than expected.  As I dragged my body out of bed, I reminded myself of how good I was going to feel after my run.  That mental thought is sometimes one of the most important things to get ready before the run.  Oh boy, my bed looked so lonely when I got out of it.  It took every ounce of strength to keep moving out the door.  Today's run was a mental one and one that I needed to really focus on so I can keep improving.  It was getting over that hump of convincing my mind that my body could do this.

Today's run was a mixture of things.  Since I needed flat, hilly and distance routes, I decided to head to Vallette to start my workout there.  First part of the workout was a 20' warmup ez.  I ran the streets of South Elmhurst to get the time in.  Then I had a 2' hill run, steady and strong, but not all out with an easy down.  That was good and even better that I was able to dodge the car that came flying down the street sending me onto the grass.  The hardest part of the workout was coming up.  This was a 4 x 4' flat at 7:53 pace with 2'ez btwn.  I thought about doing the sprint part on the flat grass, but I was afraid that I might run into a four legged animal  that might not be so friendly.  So, finally after convincing myself that I could do this, I hit my watch and took off.  Terrible.  I had the speed and the pace, but I was wasting so much energy on wild movement.  Gasping for a breath, I made it to the end of my first 4', bent over and tried to suck in as much air as possible.  My form was so bad, I knew that if I was going to complete this drill, I needed to get my head in the game and regain some proper running form. So, I lined up for my second 4' run, hit my watch and took off.  Wow, with a little concentration, I hit my mark, and wasn't running like a mad woman. Much better.  This was tough but there was only one thing I could do and that was keep on going.  I was not going to give up.  This will only make me stronger.  Lined up for my 3rd 4'.  Even better.  Legs felt like they had jets in them.  Felt like I was flying and once again, I was sucking wind at the end.  Kept saying to myself, "one more run", "one more run".  Hit the watch and took off; 4th 4'.  Come on, get going.  Oh hey, theres a guy on the path running in front of me.  Okay, let's run so fast we pass him.  And....thats exactly what I did.  Eyes focussed straight ahead, arms pumping my legs, lungs ready to burst out of my chest and I had my marker in sight.  Almost...almost...almost there........Whew!  Made it.  Bent over and sucking wind, I had reached my final goal.  Wow.  I felt so awesome.  I was so happy that I did this workout.  It was tough, but I hung in there and finished the set with a 10' cool down.  

Planned Workout:  7 miles

Completed Workout:  6.7 miles

NO WIMPS ALLOWED!