Is My Swag Coming Back?? I Think , Ummmmm, Yes??

   So, after my 3.82mi run, it was needless to say I was down and out!!! I then refocused my mind that I WAS going to hit 20 miles this week no matter what!!! I got into Houston the first night of my trip, and , I mad sure not to make the same mistake I had made in the past. I was tired, but, when I got to my room, I quickly unpacked and changed into my workout clothes, and headed to the gym!! I hit a light weight workout, not much at all, but lifted a bit.  Then I looked at the dreaded treadmill, and decided that I needed to do some speed work, and I was going to stick with my plan , no matter what!!  I did a 5 minute warm up at 3.6mph, followed by a mile at 7.6mph; then a 2 minute break at 3.5mph and then another mile at 7.6mph followed by an 11 minute gradual cool down. All told I did 3 miles and felt good about the speed work I had done. But, my total for the week was at 6.82 miles. I needed to get in 13 more miles.

   The next day, I got into San Antonio Texas at around 9am, and my plan was to get at lease a 5 miler in along the River walk. This would be the 3rd day in a row running. I wanted to get my endurance, along with my running mindset back, and also my commitment!! So, I stuck to my routine.  I got into my room, unpacked, and headed out to get in my 5 miler along the scenic River Walk!!

My Garmin Connect of my San Antonio Run

San Antonio River Walk

 I headed out, and started out great, with a great pace!! I tried a little trick that an online friend, fellow Pittsburgher, and fellow runner, Shannon had suggested in a response on one of my other posts. She suggested to just keep repeating in my head, " My breathing is Great" , "My lungs feel awesome " over and over, and it kind of helped!! But, yes, there's a BUT!! I had made plans to meet with a friend a little later in the day, and I had that on my mind, so I wanted to make sure I was back in my room getting ready by a certain time, and also wanted to try and get in a quick nap. So I cut my 5 miler short......It turned into a 3.18 miler!!! Ughhh.....On one hand , I was happy that I had run 3 days in a row, and on the other hand, I still had a little bit of justification in my head as to why I needed to quit my goals short!! But I still had a few days left to get in my 20 miles for the week. My mile count was at 10 miles and it was only Tuesday!! FYI, My week starts on Sunday and ends on Saturdays, so I had 4 days left to get in the final ten miles...easy right?? READ ON!!

   The next day, I went from San Antonio to Houston, and then back to Jersey, and my 3 day trip was done. I got back to Jersey around 1:30pm, and back to my place around 2:30pm. I had plenty of time to get in a quick run, and maybe even the gym. But my thinking was, I didn't want to run 4 days in a row, but I should have at least went to the gym and worked out. Did I ? Nope, I layed around the rest of the day!! The next day, I had to get up early and do some running around to get some errands done before I headed to the city to volunteer at the NYC expo so I can get my credit and guarantee into the 2012 NYC Marathon. So that threw that day away to run!! I ended up getting a Army Football Charter leaving Friday morning. My days were running out!!

Army Football Charter

NYC Marathon Expo

 











    We took the football team from Stewart to Colorado Springs, and then we flew the plane empty to Denver!! My plan was, when I got into Denver, to do 5 miles on the treadmill the night we got in and then 5 miles on Saturday morning, and I would have the 10 miles done!!! Did that happen??? NOPE!!!! I sat in my room, and played on my Ipad, and than got a little too comfortable, and telling myself, "I will just do the entire ten miles tomorrow " Knowing I had to get a long run in sometime, and why not tomorrow. Really, this was just another ploy of justifying and procrastinating why I shouldn't run. I had major doubts about being able to get a ten mile run in in downtown Denver!! One, it is very hard to run in a major city because of the people on the streets, but, it was a Saturday, so that was a plus. Two, I could barely get my mind right to run 4 miles lately, let alone 10!!! This was going to be interesting to say the least!!

   I had my alarm set for 9:15am!! I figured that would give me enough time to get in the ten miles I had promised myself seeing that my van time was at 2:05pm. So When my alarm went off, yes, I hit the snooze about 4 times, but eventually awoke. I am not one to hop out of bed and just go, I have to wake up first!! I got on my Ipad, and surfed the web and Facebook for a bit before gearing up to get this done!!! When I was on FB, I read a fellow runner friends caption under her picture of the sun rising that read, "You sleep, I run" This really inspired me for the moment!!! I was ready, and put it in my head that "I WILL RUN THIS TEN MILES"!!! I got ready, and , out the door I went.

   I started out, and realized that there was a parade going on!! Just great, all I needed was tons of people watching this parade, and me trying to dodge them!! But, it didn't turn out so bad, actually, it helped because a lot of the streets were closed off, and made for an easier path to run.  You see, when I run, I usually do just that, RUN!! No set course, just go!!!

   I was still a little leery of getting the entire ten miles in, but that quickly changed in my mind, as I kept saying " I will get this done, I want to feel that I accomplished what I set out to do!! " It was a loooooong , sloooooooowwww run, but, in the end, I did it!!!!! I had to play a lot of mental games, but never stopped once, and got it done. !!!!

Garmin Connect of my Denver 10 Miler

   I really think I needed this to break through that mental block I was in!! We shall see how this week goes!!!! I got 20.2 miles in last week, and am shooting for the same this week!! Wish me luck, and as always, stay tuned!!