running is no longer oxymoronic…

Wow, it has been a long time since I’ve written!  Again, I’ve been a bit distracted by life stuff, but things are finally starting to settle down.  That is a good thing because the big race is less than two weeks away!!! 

Brooke and I ran the race distance this past weekend.  Yes, the whole 10 miles.  It was long and at times achy, but we did it.  As we were running, I thought about how far I’ve come in terms of my running career (albeit a short one at that)  I’ve definitely made some strides (pun, definitely intended 😉

When I was growing up and training for tennis or even when I would participate in gym class, my family and friends would always make fun of me about running.  My Dad would say, “Kathleen??? Run???  Now that’s an oxymoron”  That was the truth.  I hated to run and boy was I ever slow!  I may not be to much faster, but my attitude has definitely changed when it comes to running.   I love it.  More specifically, I love the distance aspect of it.  What I discovered this weekend was that running 5Ks are not my favorite.  After running longer distances, I realized that a 5K is just a warm up to me.  I don’t really hit my groove until mile 4 or 5.  My six mile loop is definitely going to become a workout staple even after the race.  Running is something I can do for as long as my legs will carry me.  It makes me feel healthy, fit and confident, and I am beginning to feel weird when I don’t do it.  What a difference living a healthy lifestyle makes on so many fronts 🙂

I finally purchased my new kicks.  You are probably thinking, new kicks right before a race?!?  what?!?  well, it is said that if they are the right shoe and fit properly than you don’t really need to ‘break’ them in.  So I’m pretty pumped to run them tonight.  They feel like heaven.  (Kali can attest to my excitement for my new shoes.  I ran into her at Pacers!)  I will leave you with a couple of common mistakes people make when buying running shoes: http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319–10779-0,00.html

Running down in Florida this week because this kids on vacation!  I’ll let you know how the whole running in sand works out.  Maybe I’ll find my “on your left” man running in the sand too.  He will see my graceful strides and fall madly in love with my kicks and say “Let’s fartlek through life together”  sigh… or I could just trip in the sand and fall flat on my face and “on your left” man will have to revive me after choking on a bunch of sand.  Probably more of the latter.  Either way, definitely some potential for a good “have I ever told you about the time I was running on the beach?…” fodder.

Run happy my lovelies!!! 

“People begin running for any number of motives, but we stick to it for one basic reason- to find out who we really are.” – George Sheehan, M.D

~ by kmaj18 on March 24, 2009.