As you know I have a goal to run 30 half marathons by the end of this year and I am at 27. I signed up for a race in August and I think I am going to sign up for the Long Beach Half in Oct and then the Seattle Ghost half over Thanksgiving, so if I have to walk or crawl any of those races, I will, because I am completing 3 more races this year.
Today, in an effort to procrastinate studying for my cardiopulmonary test (I really like procrastinating, in fact I am doing it right now by blogging), I decided to run 9 miles. I did think about my test and how exercising increases my supply of blood to my heart because of my muscle pump and how my demand for oxygen is higher as well, so really it wasn't completely procrastinating, because I was locking down important concepts for the test. But I thought about that specific topic (and wondering what kind of heart failure I most likely have :) because I was out of breath while running. Usually my leg strength is the limiting factor when I run, but today, the air felt much thinner. I completed my run and I ran the entire time, but man, it was a doozie.
This got me thinking (I know, never a good thing): I don't think my body was built for running. That doesn't mean I am going to stop running. I love it too much, but I know I will never be a fast runner. This is something that I have struggled with since I started running races almost 7 years ago. It is partially my body type, partially my training (right now), and partially anxiety while running in a race. I know in the future that I will complete my goal of running a sub 2 hour half, but right now I have to be okay with my speed and knowing that I am still getting exercise, having fun, and hey, since I am running slower, burning more fat.
Today, gravity was not on my side, but other days I feel like I could run for ever.
My next half in August is a mud and chocolate run. I am doing this race for 3 reasons
1. It involves chocolate (really do I need to give any more reasons?)
2. The date was ideal for my next half with an excellent starting time of 9:30am
3. I know that I am not doing this race for time because I believe there will be chocolate on the course and I would love to eat as much of it as I can.
So here is to being okay with my snail pace, which in reality is really an average pace of all runners and a fast pace to all non-runners. I may not be able to run a 6 min mile, but I can walk on my hands :)
What is something that you love to do but have slight struggles with?
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