A good nights run

Yesterday was a great start to the week. Pete and I for a run on the trails near my house. I love these trails. All around Lake Hiawatha and Nokomis to the south west and then more trails to the south east. It was the first day that it felt really warm out, 71-degrees, and the first day that I was really starting to feel better (not the swine flu). I know, for all you people living in the south, 71-degrees doesn't mean much - but remember that only a couple of months ago it was 0 here. In any case, it was beautiful.

Tonight I'm looking forward to going roller blading and then a nice long run, as long as the rain holds out otherwise it will just be a much longer run.

The amazing thing for me is that it wasn't that long ago that running was nearly impossible. Before I did the Iron Girl back in '06 (still Marie's fault) I had never run before, well unless it was for soccer or field hockey. When I would try to run I would get a half block from my house and die. Keeling over, panting, gasping for air. And now if anything, my legs get tired before run out of breath. How did I manage to do this? I took a class. That's right, I took a Learn-to-Run class from The Running Room. The class taught me everything from how to breath to posture, how to plant my foot, how to hold my arms, everything. And by the end of the class I ran my first 5K race in under 35 minutes. I was so proud of myself. Everything I learned from that class I still use today. When I'm on a big run, swearing at Molly, calling her a b*tch for making me do this, I remember what I learned. I stop (not literally) and remind myself to pay attention to my breathing, posture, everything and suddenly I'm running stronger. Since then I've convinced several other people to take this Learn-To-Run class, people who like me, have never really been runners. Its pretty cool. The people in the class with me were all shapes and sizes and all levels of fitness.

One of the greatest things that I learned from that and training for the Iron Girl with Marie was just how important a good support system is. My support system includes Molly, who I train with, Pete who reminds me that I'm a hell of a lot stronger than I think I am, but also all of my friends and family that ask how its going, all of the people that show an interest in my progress and let me complain about the struggles. I need their support and I will continue to need it.