I'm a runner!

Had a major epiphany last night. So I haven't been able to work out in about a week due to various circumstances...see earlier post. Saturday I was able to do a 45 minute bike trainer workout with a 20-min run brick afterwards. I was worried I had lost some ability or endurance since I hadn't worked out in a week, but it felt great and I was able to complete it without any problems!

Sunday I was supposed to do a 85-min run (10/1 run/walk). Got really busy and was unable to workout.

Monday comes; my husband is off all week, and we are BUSY! I almost talked myself out of running, but at 7:15pm I set off in the car to Union Street, a lovely historical neighborhood that leads into downtown, then another historical neighborhood. It's relatively flat, straight, sidewalks everywhere, and lots of magnolias and beautiful landscaping to look at. And I DID IT! I set my Garmin to an interval workout of running 10 minutes and walking 1.5 minutes. I'm clumsy, and I can't get a drink, get the bottle back on my belt, take a swallow of gel, etc in 1 minutes. I ran 5.87 miles, only .33 miles away from a 10K! My upcoming 10K race is in 11 days, so I was stoked!

As I was running, a toddler comes running towards me with his mother behind him. As he gets close, he stops running and says, "Look mommy, there's a runner." And she says, "Yes, she is a runner." I about had tears running down my face, mixing with the sweat. I've seen runners and always think they have that "look", which I definitely don't have. People who see me run at triathlons or on the street often give me the thumbs up or words of encouragement; when I see pictures of myself running, I know why...being heavy is not a pretty sight running. However, tonight, as I completed essentially 6 miles and hearing I'm a runner from a young child, I have finally accepted the fact that, yes, I am a runner. Yes, I am a triathlete. It's not about what I look like, how fast (or slow) I go. It's the fact that I go.

Work: I'm still very much behind in my scholarship/manuscript writing and in grading for my adjunct job. My 3rd prn job as a clinical instructor starts Thursday (ugh) but the money will be good...my toes starting hurting as I ran yesterday...usually a sign that my shoes need replacing (but in this case it could be the distance).

Weight - I'm down to 209.4!!! Only a few more pounds and I'll be below 200!

Nutrition: I made chicken pad thai tonight with cabbage as the noodles. It was fantastic! Scott & Allison loved it; Scott didn't even season it with anything! Lots of veggies that tasted awesome! I do love this new lifestyle.

I hope that my next blog post will find me continuing to train, much more on target with my grading (at the very least) and maybe some work completed on a manuscript (but that may be too ambitious, wink wink).

TTT