54

I worked an early shift at work today, which isn’t entirely bad. Especially when your thermometer in your car screams 54 degrees as you’re leaving work at 3 p.m. (In March. After millions of inches of snow. In WINTER!!!!)

So today, I did it. I took my first run OUTDOORS of 2008. I mean, we started back with the dog walking 40 degrees ago but today I tied up my shoes and I went. And despite a dead MP3 player, I ran.

The worst part of last year’s 5K was the unknown. I had never EVER run 3 (point one) miles in my entire life and so it sounded like an eternity. And felt like one when I first started training. I couldn’t even run a mile without stopping. I’ll be honest, I haven’t run much since last April. I go for the occasional run through the neighborhood here and there when I’m mad or when I need to get something out of my system, but it would be unfair to say I’ve used it as a workout method this winter.

But today felt SO. GOOD. No words good.

And quite honestly, I thought it would be worse. I stretched a lot and I thought I would die after about a block. I didn’t. I ran almost a mile and a half today and I know I could have kept on going, but I don’t want to hurt my legs the first day (I have flat feet = ouch, but that’s another story for another day).

I guess the difference this time is this: I know I can. And knowing you can is actually pretty powerful, it turns out.