A craptastic run...

Yesterday morning I went for an 8 mile run with my friend Drea. We've got a little over a month until the Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon that as of Friday I have signed up for and paid my non-refundable registration fee, so it's time to get motivated. It'd been a few weeks since I'd gone on a long run, I believe the last one was 7 miles with Andrea the morning of the Texas/Rice game.

I have to say, this run completely kicked my booty. It might be because Drea runs so much faster than me and I paced with her for the first mile and a half, and we chatted some... it completely exhausted me. After I let her get ahead, I began to think that maybe I would just do 6 miles, and I kept on thinking about how disappointed I was in myself for not performing better and having to walk so much. As I progressed further, I began to feel better and was actually able to finish much stronger. I'm definitely going to have to buckle down these next few weeks if I'm going to make a decent showing at the 1/2 marathon next month.

Running is by far the most difficult thing I've ever done. It's not just about physicality, you also have to take into consideration the emotional and mental game that goes along with it as well. It's a balance that is difficult to achieve, but I think once you get past a certain level, it becomes much easier. I've worked for a lot of things in my life and achieved most of my goals, but this has put me on a whole new level.... I'm used to things coming pretty easy to me, and this has not. I think in the long run, I will enjoy this achievement much more because of all of the work that has gone into it.

As I was feeling rather defeated on my run, I had to just take a moment to step back and realize that there was nothing to feel bad about. I remember the elation I felt the first time I ran a mile straight. Running 8 miles is quite an achievement that a lot of people can't do, so even if I have to walk some and even if it's hard... it's still an achievement!

The weather is getting nicer and I'm going to be more consistent with my short runs, and I plan on making a much better showing on my next long run on Sunday... even if it does come after a weekend of shenanigans in New Orleans.