postponing

Well-I was (still am) training for a marathon. I starting training for a tri in January-click  here to see my first blog in late January when I started training for the tri, and starting seriously running in AUGUST. I went to look back on my blog-and July 31st is when I stated I was going to attempt the Bourbon Chase. 3 months of running-I have ran 15 miles so far. This is when fellow runners think to themselves 'this girl is gonna learn the hard way of pushing too hard'-well folks. It happened.

What happens when two exciting people run together..

 Last night I was aiming for 16 miles because of the marathon on November 30. So my wonderful friend, Varina, and I start our trek around Clinton. She is taking me all sorts of great ways-more hills than I probably wanted but it happens. I was so thankful to have her with me, guiding me, talking to me, and having someone who is far more experienced next to me! She leaves around mile 11 to go meet up with a friend-thus leaving me with 5 more miles. I mean-anyone who runs can run 5 more miles I think to myself. False. So, I am going and at this point I probably should have stopped-but it's me. My knees are DYING most steps-but I am too focused on my end goal. Around mile 12...13. I honestly don't remember-anyways I ponder that I am exhausted and for a marathon I'm only half way. I freak out, my asthma kicks in, and my air way stops working for a good 5 seconds. I regain control and keep running. It happened again past mile 14. I tell myself 15 is acceptable, and I can make it. So I make it to 15-stop running and I freak out over how exhausted I am-and the whole attempting to gather air but failing thing happens. It. Sucked. Fun fact of the day: not breathing is never a good sign. I made it back to the dorm, sufficiently freaked out, showered, and recovered a little in Jules apt., and then went to sleep. I fell asleep with ice packs on my knees, and socks on my feet because my knees hurt so much I couldn't fall asleep.

 This is not the life of a runner-but it's my life. Something isn't measuring up. Time to figure out what is going wrong. Fun fact number two: I don't have much of the running life figured out. Apologies for all who think I do-I am still in trial and error. When it stops becoming fun-that is when your focus needs to shift. It's time for my focus to change a little. Not quite sure what that looks like-but- I've gotten this far-so I trust that eventually I'll figure it out!