9 Mile "Bounce Back"

The theme for our new session of First Place 4 Health is Stay on Track and Bounce Back. The goal is to always be doing one of those two things. I definitely had strayed "off track" over the past few weeks so it was time for me to bounce back. I had planned on running Thursday (the next day after my meeting)...but it didn't happen. I also planned on running Friday...but that didn't happen. Instead I ate cupcakes.

This morning I woke up and I said to myself, "Self--snap out of it!" This weekend was supposed to be my 9 mile training run. My first half marathon is two weeks away and I knew that if I skipped the 9 mile run it would put me in a very bad place mentally. So I hopped in the car and drove 4.5 miles away from my house to plant my mid-run water bottle. I prayed. Hard. I just told the Lord, as if he didn't know, that I really needed this run to be doable. Not easy or pain-free but doable. I really needed to be able to run the whole thing and I needed to be in a good mental state and I needed strength. I needed to be okay with discomfort. I knew that all of that could only come from Him.

Just before taking off, I decided to leave my Garmin at home. It has been helping me track calorie burn, heart rate and pace, but today I didn't need to be concerned with any of that. I just needed to run without any pressure or anything pulling from my mental strength, if that makes sense. I didn't want to be looking down at my wrist and thinking I'm too fast...I'm too slow...etc.

As I began running, I felt good. I knew it was going to be a "good" run. Maybe some of you know what I mean. The rhythm was there from the very beginning, my feet and legs felt light and my breathing was really controlled. I was doing the shuffle thing that the Olympic runner guy tells you to do.

Toward the very end, the last 3 or 4 miles, my knees started hurting really bad. But it was almost like I was able to detach that part of my body from the experience. I know that doesn't make sense....it was like I could feel my knees hurting but that wasn't having an impact on my running. It just hurt. Usually when it begins to hurt I start walking a lot and I can't think about anything else but the pain. Instead of that today I was thinking about my breathing. I would ask myself  "Are you still breathing?" The answer was always yes and so I continued on. If I was struggling at all with my breathing I would adjust my pace and stride and immediately I would be back in control. As long as that part of me was in control, I could deal with the knee. Don't get me wrong--it was a very painful run. But it was doable. Thank You. Lord!

 So there you go--my first "bounce back" experience of the new session! Hopefully I will spend more time on track than bouncing back...but either will do.