Who you callin' slow?

I am slow. I have never broken the tape at the end of a race, have never received an age group award - heck, I've never even placed in the top 50% of finishers in any race that I've done. I am a "back of the pack" runner. I am slow.

Recently, I've gotten faster. But I still consider myself slow. Then, today, I read this article.

"Here’s a secret about running. The feeling you get after a new PR, the satisfaction from a tough workout well done, and the disappointment from a bad performance all feel the same no matter how fast you are. That’s the beauty of our sport."

Huh.  Well, there's something.  Last year, when I ran my first 5K, it took me over 41 minutes.  Then, a few months later, I ran a 5K and it took me just under 36.  I was elated.  Yet I down played my elation, because 36 minutes is "slow."   I improved by over 5 minutes - cut my pace by over a minute per mile - and yet I still felt unworthy.

Last month, I ran/walked a 10 mile race, and while I was thrilled with the race and my finishing time, I didn't do a race report ON MY OWN BLOG because I felt that my time was nothing to "brag" about.  Plus the fact that I hadn't actually RUN the whole thing.

". . . regardless of your pace, you’re doing better than almost 80 percent of Americans. In a study conducted by the CDC, researchers found that less than 20 percent of Americans get the recommended levels of exercise, and more than a quarter of U.S. adults do not devote any time to physical activity."

 Again, huh.  I'm in the top 20% of something.  No matter what my pace.

I am run/walking a half marathon on Sunday, and I'm going to probably finish at the back of the pack.  But you know what?  I'm going to write one hell of a race report - and I'll be damn proud, no matter how my finishing time may compare to others.  Because I will have done something I never thought I'd be able to do, and that is worth bragging about.

Relentless. Forward. Motion!

As much as I love sleep (and trust me, I looove sleep), there is something almost magical about forcing myself out of bed before the sun comes up to go on a run.   

Today was my last long run/walk before my upcoming race.  I wanted to do 8 miles, with at least 2 at race pace.  Ended up with 8 miles, 3 of which were sub-race pace.  Whoops.  Actually, I say that, but who the heck knows what my race pace is these days?  Especially with this whole run/walk thing, which has totally thrown my mind for a loop.  I don't think I have any actual idea how fast I can run these days, because I haven't tried to run fast (save for the "run" portions of my run/walks) in forever.   

Once this race is over, I can put the run/walking behind me and hopefully get back to just running.   It's not that I have anything against run/walking - and, heck, it's given me some mile splits that I'm not sure I could replicate just running - but it's not what I started out wanting to do.  

I am feeling better about my running over all, though - and I met my April mileage goal already (and still have one run to go this month!), so that makes me happy.  Now if I could just meet my weight goal....  But that would require me to not eat things like I did yesterday, and really, why would I want to give that up? LOL  No, really, I do need to do something.  I'm up 3 lbs over where I was a month ago, and that's just no good.  I'm still in the "normal" BMI range (not that I put much stock in BMI), but I am not happy with where I am.  So....... gotta do something.  

In any case.  7 days till the Frederick Half Marathon.  Whoot whoot!  Ready or not, here I run.... ;-) 

Food coma

Instead of running 8 miles this morning, I decided to sleep in.  Then, after spending time with my family this  morning, this happened:

Chicken n Biscuits 

And then this (which I forgot to take a picture of before I started GORGING myself on it):

Strawberry Shortcake

Now, my husband is taking the kids to his mother's house, and even though I'll have a few hours to myself, I'm too freaking tired to go run, so I think I'm just going to slip into a little food coma.   Somebody wake me up in time for my run tomorrow morning, mmmkay?