We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. ~ JFK
Lately I’ve been stalking a little consumed with other people’s running speeds and my lack thereof.
I feel the need for speed… but speed just doesn’t feel the need for me. sigh.
So the past week or so I’ve been having a small pity party for myself. Invite 1.
I’ve also been struggling with a nagging pain that seems to be making a home in the bottom mid section of my right foot. Invite 2.
I had an xray yesterday to rule out a stress fracture. I won’t have the results for a few days. I don’t really think it’s a stress fracture – at least not yet. If it was a stress fracture I wouldn’t be able to run at all and would be having more consistent pain in that foot all the time, right? And I don’t. But I do realize that the chances of this nagging pain becoming a full blown stress fracture are probably high for me. I’ve been trying to ice it more and keep up with my calf stretching to help relieve the symptoms and that seems to be helping.
Up until today, I haven’t thought much about this pain being the start of plantar fasciitis. But maybe that’s what it really is since it’s affecting the mid/arch bottom of my foot. It seems to get better as my run goes on and sometimes (like today) I don’t feel much pain in that foot at all while running. Although it has been bothering me some this afternoon.
So while the party was in full swing, I decided to go back and review my runkeeper stats from when I first started running.
Holy birthday cake batman! (yes you may have noticed from my last post that I have a small obsession with Adam West)
When comparing stats, I wanted to pick relatively similar runs about 2 miles or so.
This first one was back in August 2011. I was still working on getting through the C25K program. This run was probably in the ballpark of week 6-7 of C25k. Since this run is almost 2.0 exactly, my guess is that I probably went out with the intention of running until I got to 2 miles. I remember being so proud of myself for doing that.
And here are my splits from this past Monday’s run.
WOW! My average pace has improved about 4 1/2 minutes per mile. I guess sometimes you can’t see the forest through the trees.
Seeing those numbers yesterday made me feel pretty good. I remember the first time I tried the C25K program (summer of 2010) I injured myself around 6-7 weeks and didn’t come back to try again for another year. This time I tried to go easy in the beginning and not push so hard right from the start in order to allow my body to adapt to the running. My body is not built for running and throughout high school was in a constant hate/hate relationship with running.
Running is hard.
Running is hard no matter if you are running 14 minute miles or 12 minute miles or 10 minute miles or faster. It really doesn’t get easier. You are always striving to be better no matter what level you are at. You strive to push yourself. To be uncomfortable. To run harder. To run faster. To run longer. To run farther. To become a better runner. Always. Running is hard.
So why run at all?
Running becomes a part of you. There are days where I really really love running and how it makes me feel – like the Mother’s Day 5K – what a rush that was! I love shutting off my brain when I run. I love thinking through problems when I run. I love letting my mind wander when I run. But I also love struggling when I run. Because after struggling comes overcoming. And overcoming is the greatest feeling in the world!
Sure there are horrible days where running doesn’t come easy at all and getting out the door can be a struggle – like this past weekend when I was out running at 7:30 am and it was already 65 out heading towards a 90 degree day. Yuck.
Bottom line… running is hard.
Well the running police have been called and the pity party is officially over (for now). Time to return to my regularly scheduled program.
Same bat time. Same bat channel.