I had an awesome weekend. My stepkids were home, we celebrated one of the kids’ birthdays, and I had two personal, weight loss victories.
First, I lost 2 more pounds at weigh-in on Saturday. I am already just a little over 4 pounds away from my next mini-goal (and reward!)
Then, on Sunday morning, I met up with a distance running group. I strongly prefer running alone, but my husband is getting more and more worried about me running by myself, especially longer distances. I figured meeting up with a group for my longer runs would put his mind at ease.
I have joined a few running groups in the past, and I have never enjoyed them. I don’t like chit-chat, banter, gossip, screwing around, pretty much anything but running when it’s time for a run. As we stood there giving everyone five more minutes (to which I say, screw that, we set a time for a reason, didn’t we?), I eyed the trail head and itched to get started while the rest of the group talked, took selfies, took last-minute trips to the bathroom, and seemingly anything they could think of that didn’t involve actually running.
When we finally got started, I discovered a wardrobe issue instantly. My pants were drawstring, and even though they were tied, as soon as I started running, they started sliding down my hips. I yanked them up, only to have them immediately slip down again. I dropped back from the group and stepped to the side of the trail to yank my drawstring tighter, then rejoined the run, hoping no one noticed. I always feel like the only person these things happen to! Tell me I’m not the only one.
The run was an out-and-back, so people out for a shorter distance turned around, waved as they went by, and headed back to the trail head. One clump of runners stopped to get water and Gatorade, and I joined them for a quick sip of water. They were still milling around, and I was itching to get back to it, so I started running again by myself. I ended up mostly by myself for the rest of the run, but I didn’t mind that at all.
My goal had been to run at least 11 miles. When I hit 11 miles, I decided to keep going. The next 2 miles felt like an eternity. My quadriceps ached, I was thirsty again, I had to keep rolling my shoulders back and rocking my neck to stretch out some tightness.
I ended up covering half marathon distance: 13.1 miles! Yessss! I was so proud of myself, I couldn’t stop smiling as I stretched my tired, worn out legs.
I stretched again when I got home, but even so, every time I have been sitting for a while, my legs stiffen up, and I make all kinds of amusing sound effects when I stand up again, then totter around like Frankenstein, much to the amusement of my husband and the kids.
It’s worth it. I will keep groaning when I stand up, and I will keep limping slightly until my legs forgive me and loosen up again. I don’t mind a bit. After a few rough runs, doubt had started creeping in that I could get back into it, but yesterday proved beyond a doubt that most certainly, I can.
Sweat & Sparkle 