Run Don't Jog

The past several days have had their share of ups and downs. Last Tuesday I had the best run that I've had in a long, long, long time, and on Wednesday my bike ride was a frustrating mess of changing gears, sore legs, and inconsistent exertion. Thursday morning I decided to take a day off of the early alarm and planned for an evening walk instead. The plan never turned into action, and I went to bed too late. During my run on Friday morning I just couldn't wake up. I did my warm up walk and stretch, dropped off the dog - everything like usual - and then started to go. A couple of times I had to consciously do a body check - "well, my heart isn't bursting so that's good..." "My legs aren't tired, so it can't be that..." "My breathing is actually pretty easy..." "Maybe I could curl up on the street corner and rest my eyes for 20 minutes or so......." It was just b.a.d.

The highlight of the week was by far the Girls on the Run 5K Sunday morning. My husband and daughter dropped several minutes off their time in December, and my kids from school were amazing.

While I didn't run because the team needed a "catcher" to stand at our team corral the entire time, I was very inspired and managed some good exercise that afternoon. I've decided that while I actually do like running, I hate jogging. Unfortunately, the pace that is fun and feels good is short lived and I'm not strong enough to maintain it. The pathetic jog that allows me to keep going for an extended period reminds me of a turtle crossing the road. I find myself thinking, "would I be going faster if I were walking?" "Do the people in those cars think I'm running?" "Do I look like I'm running?" "Am I running?" "what the heck am I doing, because I really don't seem to be getting anywhere?" "That sign hasn't gotten any closer to me, but I'm pretty sure that I've been moving in that direction for a while." Whatever. Running, walking, jogging, it all added up to 55 minutes with an average heart rate of 164, so I put it in my little journal to keep track.