My Nemesis

I started this post over a week ago but couldn't get myself to finish it. You see, I was feeling very defeated and frustrated with my running progress (or lack thereof). The post started sounding really whiny and annoying so I deleted it.

Back in April my friend/trainer/therapist, talked (bullied) me into signing up for the St. George Marathon which is going to be in October. I thought, what the heck it's not like it's a guarantee that I'll even get picked. I was banking on my bad luck with drawings. What I didn't realize is that my friend Jen has awesome luck when it comes to things like this. Since we signed up together, of course we got picked. Great! What really motivated me to start the training is that I have THE BEST running partner on the planet and we would be training for it together. Cherise makes our runs fun and she always encourages me and pushes me a little further. I love that about her. What I didn't realize at the time was that I would pretty much be losing Cherise as my partner because she was moving. I have shed quite a few tears over this, but I'm hoping that I can still make her do the long runs with me. Even when she's not physically with me, she is on my shoulder telling me I can do it.

After more than a month of being sick and not just sick, but really sick I felt like my training had gone down the toilet. I wasn't even able to run for almost 3 weeks straight. Once I started back it was total crap. I was ready to throw in the towel and bag the whole marathon training. I couldn't believe that after how long and hard I had worked to build up to where I was before I got sick, it was as if I was starting back at square one. I was so discouraged.

My former self would have just gave up, but the new me didn't. I pushed through and now I feel like I can do it.

Jen helped organize a weekly Family 5k run/walk that is held in our neighborhood each Monday night. Last week was my first time participating and it wasn't a good run for me at all. Actually, it was one of my worst. I went home and cried my eyes out to Rob and felt like the biggest loser. I think that was a huge turning point for me though. The next night I ran the same route and it was a completely different experience. SO much better. Each run since then has been better and now I feel like I am finally back to where I was back in early April.

I was determined after last Mondays crappy 5k I was going to slaughter my time and finish in record time (for me). I mentioned to Jen that I was feeling gutsy and determined and she offered to run WITH me. Jen is a super athlete and so much faster than me and the fact that she offered to run alongside me really meant a lot to me. She totally could have smoked me, but instead she ran right beside me the whole time and pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable. It was my fastest time yet and I feel empowered and motivated to do even better.