Not Only On Paper

My body seems to believe starting over on paper means starting over in reality.

I dialed the app back to start at week one again. The last workout I felt fairly good, all things considered. Or maybe I'm just remembering it that way because its behind me now? Either way, today is the beginning of a second week running and I thought I'd feel a little bit better about it. I was actually somewhat geared up for it and laced up as soon as I woke up. (What in the world has gotten into me?)

Running parallel with the railroad to the left.

Maybe its the fact that I wore my crappy tennis shoes. But today felt like the first day all over again. It probably had something to do with not eating anything beforehand, or maybe its the stiff neck I've had since yesterday. My shins hurt but I powered through that. I chewed gum so I wouldn't have a dry mouth. I still had to stop at the water fountain for a drink though and I felt like I couldn't couldn't control my breathing.

I think I'm rambling so let me sum this up. It was bad. It was good. (Mostly it was bad.) You get it.

Nature's confetti. :)

So I looked for motivation. Positive thinking? I tried thinking, "You made a choice. You can follow through!" My next thought? "You're a sick masochist." Okay then! Positive thinking, out! How about some of last workouts motivation? "One foot in front of the other." Then I noticed that I feel that stinging hot sensation on the ball of my right foot. Ya know, the one you get when a blister is forming? And then I was trying not to make it worse, which I know was ruining my form, making everything harder. "Curse these stupid shoes! I should've wore my Skeletoes again..." I had to stop focusing on my feet.

Today was drearier than the other running days by far. The clouds were all grey and it smelled like rain. The temp wasn't bad for running though. A little chilly but comfortable enough I didn't need sleeves, and there was a slight breeze. So I decided my motivation would be the environment. There's a part of the path that runs parallel to the railroad, and its lined with beautiful trees that are losing their flower. As the wind blew, it threw the tiny petals around me like confetti. 

That isn't a gravestone, I promise!

On the other side of the park, towards the entrance to the baseball fields there's another pretty tree that the neighborhood kids like to climb in because of its low growing branches. I took photos of these for the blog, but mostly to help distract me from my misery and the desire to just sit my big butt down somewhere, anywhere.

"Will Run For The Scenery (or for the chance to finally sit back down, whatever...)"

PS- At the second run phase I decided I wanted to know what it would feel like if I pushed out a real running gait. So I envisioned I was running for my kids safety. Two thoughts came to me: 1) This will be fun to do at this pace if it ever stops feeling like imminent death, and 2) OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO FALL ON MY FACE.