I completed a 3 mile run today that brought my mileage total for 2014 to 250.75 miles. My goal was to run 500 miles, but unfortunately that just didn’t happen for a number of reasons. Those same reasons are something I have to remind myself of because running right now is incredibly frustrating. I just started running again last week after almost 4 full months off. These 4 months have definitely hampered my fitness level and ability to run the way I want to or think I should be. This was something I was realizing today as I was beating myself up mentally during my run. My first mile the last few runs out has felt pretty great. It has some moments of wanting to give up, but I feel relaxed and good. Then suddenly I seem to hit a wall or something and just get incredibly frustrated. I seem to walk a great deal of the 2nd mile, and even part of the 3rd mile. I’m learning a great deal about myself, and one of those “things” is that I don’t like to do something if I can’t do it PERFECT! I don’t like running if I can’t be the best “me” at it. So when I go out running right now I am upset because I am not in top form, but then I started to realize today there is a very good reason for that. I haven’t ran in FOUR MONTHS!!! That’s a very long time, especially regarding fitness. I know my goal marks to hit at each mile and I am so far off, but it makes sense. The time off that I took was really longer because I had to start scaling back on miles before my last race because of Plantar Fasciitis – very painful! I am happy that I am not suffering through that any more, but I just need to remind myself to have patience and to keep pushing myself and I will eventually get where I want to be.
Here is to a HEALTHY and successful New Year!!!