And It's Been A While...

So after a long, long vacation from running I'm back in step with my mom on the streets! This past Tuesday June 8th, I woke up again at our usual time of O-dark-thirty to find that the stars would once again greet me. After a mishap of misplaced running shoes we were on our way. I was a little worried that after such a long period off my running would be shot and that I would be starting back from scratch. Mom had gotten herself up to the seven mile marker the weekend before, and the farthest I had ever run was five miles.

Once we got started running it was very slow going for me, but once we got started talking the running came back as if I had never taken a break. The first mile and a half I didn't even feel, then came the second half of our neighborhood jaunt. I started making running deals thanks to the light. I told mom I'd run our flat trail so long as I could skip doing a hilly loop in the neighborhood. However, once we got near the end of the trail I remember the horribly overwhelming stench of flowers that covered the last leg. So this time I asked if rather than taking that I could do the hilly neighborhood once. Then the most surprising thing happened, by the end of the the loop I was ready for more! So we added on a little extra by going backwards through our run, up another large hill. About the time I got down to the hill the my legs were beginning to hurt and I was running through a painful cramp in me side. Then came in mom, my wonderful running partner who sticks by my side through anything. She got me through the hill with our secret to running, fired up conversation. Anytime we get caught up talking about something that we have a lot on our mind about, we get so distracted from running that we don't even notice how far we've gone. By the time she got me to the top of the hill I was ready for the downhill, and ready to finish the run strong.

As we were heading back I asked her how far we had run so far, and after a long moment of hesitation she told me we had run 4.3 miles. It was then I decided to make my goal another five miles. Mom helped me out as always by telling me we were going a longer route to the house and that I was going to run it all. She said to me, "We're so close to the end, I won't let you stop now." and no matter how slow I would have to go she was going to stay by my side. By the time we made it back to the house, which involved yet another hill, and were walking our cool down we had run 5.23 miles! My farthest run ever to date!

So what I really want to share today is that no matter how long it's been, you can always jump right back in. Just because there were some problems that kept you from doing something, doesn't mean you should give up on it entirely.

Looking at the future for this month, my mom and I are looking at doing two more 5k's, maybe a 10k. So as always, keep an eye out for another update(hopefully much, much sooner than this one took!)