Slowly but Surely

Today, I ran for the first time in probably two months. I've always been unmotivated to run during the winter, but I had hoped it would be different this year. I had trained so hard for the half-marathon in November, and I didn't want to lose that level of fitness. Additionally, I thought it would be easier to run during my pregnancy if I kept doing it consistently from the start.

And yet, I was still defeated in my attempts to keep the running streak going. First, I felt ill and tired from Thanksgiving through New Year's, due to the joys of the first trimester. Once I started to feel better and had more energy, the cold and snow were enough to keep me from lacing up my running shoes. My Dad loaned us his treadmill, which has come in handy several times. But in general, I'm not motivated enough to walk the dog outside and then come back home and jump on the treadmill. So I cut out the running and just walked the dog.

Although I haven't achieved my goal of running throughout the winter, I still have hopes for my secondary goal: To finish the Flying Pig 10k race in early May. Notice I just said "finish"; I have no aspirations other than that. I don't care about my time, or how often I have to walk during the race. I'm just hoping to get from the start to the finish in one piece.

I kept telling myself that I had plenty of time to start training for that. I mean, I usually don't start training in the spring until mid-March or so, and it's only .... past that. So I finally bit the bullet and took Beckett for an easy 3-mile jog.

I was actually surprised by how well it went. After not running for two months, it came back to me pretty quickly. Now that I'm starting to get bigger, I was afraid that it would feel awkward. But it just felt like it was me, running. Granted, running slowly and taking several walk breaks. But running none-the-less.

Here's the new plan: To run 3 days a week from now until the race. I'll start with 3-mile runs, and then add length to my weekend run so I eventually achieve 6 or maybe even 7 miles. If I can make it through a 6-mile run on my own, I should be able to do the race. We'll see how it goes!