The Longest 1.6 Ever!

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“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” ~ Conrad Hilton


TODAY’S STATS:

Distance:     10:01 miles
Duration:     1:49:40
Pace:             10:57 min/miles
Calories:       1398

“Come on girl!  You’ve never been a quitter!  Don’t quit now!  Come on… get your a** in gear!!!”  Someone around 8.4 miles, my hamstrings and quadriceps felt weighted.  Those muscles felt like five pounds of weights were strapped to my thighs with heavy electrical tape.  The goal for today was 10 miles.  Typically 10 miles is cake for me, but I think running in the unexpected heat took a toll on my body. While I was well hydrated, the last time I ran in 85+ temps was probably Fall 2012.  I don’t know about other runners, but my body has to become conditioned and acclimated to the summer temps. In Jersey, we’ve gone from 70ish spring like weather to a four-day 90 degree heat wave.

I had to talk.. more like yell at myself to keep going.  I swear there’s a beastly coach residing within me. She appears only when I am on the verge of quitting.  Her harsh and demonic like voice forces me to push myself beyond, what I think is my breaking point, to keep moving.  I stopped briefly only to take swags of water from my bottle or to douse my body with ice-cold water from neighbors sparsely running sprinklers.  Still the remaining 1.6 seemed like another eight miles down the road.  Mistakenly I listed to my MapMyRun voice update every .3 miles, which made the remaining distance feel even longer.   That was not smart.  Finally I did a quick body check:

Do my knees hurt?  No.  Cramps?  No.  Feel dizzy?  No.  Chest pains?  No.  Do I feel pain…anywhere?  No.  Then keep moving and stop looking for an excuse to stop!

The desire to quit is internal.  If we are not careful, external forces such as negative energy from those around us can trick us into giving up.  Just as Conrad Hilton affirms , Successful people keep moving.  They make mistakes, but they don’t quit. So there you have it…

Keep it movin and have a great weekend!

When everything feels especially good

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“Me thinks that the moment my legs began to move, my thoughts began to flow.”
– Henry David Thoreau

Today’s workout of the day was a run

Distance:  12:00 miles
Duration:  2:03:03
Pace:        10:15 min/miles
Calories:  1206

Most distance runners will agree that once the body is physically warmed up, they get into a zone.  The zone is place where you forget about your distance goal for the day.  You stop thinking about your stride, your pace, and your mind freely wanders to unexpected pleasantries. Even if the mind is preoccupied by a legitimate pressing issue, the zone gently and magically thrusts the thoughts elsewhere deep into the brain.

When I’m in my zone, I feel like I am gliding through the air and everything feels especially good.

This morning I unknowingly startled a ginormous but beautiful black curly-haired dog.  He viciously barked and lunged at me, making serious attempts to get away from his owner.  A tight grip by his owner, kept the large beastly one from getting to me.

The incident abruptly took me right out of my zone.  My heart raced harder than any other parts of my run.  Stricken with fear for a moment or two, I felt flushed.  Several deep breaths calmed me.  But still, it took me about a half mile or so to get back into my zone.

“Come on girl!  Don’t let that darn dog mess you up! Relax!”  I said this to myself aloud several times.  I had to force myself to focus because I was wondering about other dogs that might come long this morning.

As I continued my run, I realized that although maybe not the exact scenario, but events occur during our workday or week that sometimes get us off track and cause us to lose focus. That loss of focus can lead to even greater distractions for longer periods of time. Hence, getting off track in our professional or personal lives, and not understanding the what’s or the why’s that occurred which put us in an unhappy place.

I am easily distracted.  The awareness helps me to overcome the challenge.  The awareness also motivates me to take preventive measures so that I can carry out goals and tasks.  Do I get it right all the time?  Nope, but I am work in progress for sure.

This is an example of one of the situations where an idea comes to mind while running and I try to apply it to other aspects of my life.

My run was fabulous this morning.  Initially I did not have a distance in mind.  About five miles into the run, I thought, “I should run this route twice today!”  So I did and it totaled 12 miles!!  Yay!!

Remember to Keep it movin and have a wonderful holiday weekend!