6K?...!!!

I've been working on my running with the "Couch to 5K" training program I started several months ago.  It's been a lot of fun, and surprisingly, I've been able to do it.  I was so out of shape, no, correction, I was never really in shape.  Multiple spine surgeries, heavy medication, spending a year on the couch, two pregnancies back-to-back, and my level of overall fitness has been somewhere between negative twelve to twenty.

I've been continually surprised how the body can respond to demands for exercise if you build up appropriately over time.  I've been running alone much of the time because of time-constraints.  Two babies tend to make for a busy time.  I've pushed myself further and longer than the main running group has been doing.  But tomorrow is the last day of the training program I started with them.  We're not running 5K yet, nor are we running without minute walking breaks in the middle of the run.  But we are close enough that we "can do it" when the time for a real 5K comes. 

So, running a full 5K without breaks has been a mentally daunting task.  My neighbor who runs said if I could run the distance of 5K, I could run the 5K and even longer.  My running partner who got me started on this whole endeavor said much the same thing.  I did not share their confidence in my abilities.

Yesterday I decided to change up the format of my running tracker app.  Instead of having it mark when I got to walk for a minute, I just let it keep track of how far I'd gone, letting me know when I've reached each kilometer in distance.  I also decided to go across the street and run in the large park we're so fortunate to live near. 

I started running and made it to two kilometers without stopping fairly easily.  I'd done that before.  When I made it to three kilometers I had run the longest distance at any one go without waking yet.  And I could keep going.  I turned around because I was over half-way to five kilometers. 

This is where I surprised myself.  There is an overall uphill tendency going out on the trail.  It's also, "less than half-way" so it's both physically and mentally more challenging.

I kept running.  Four kilometers.  "Hey, maybe I can make the 5K?!?"  Five kilometers.  Woah.  That was unexpected.  Now I'm thinking about how I just signed up for a, "4 on the 4th" race that's four miles in just a few weeks.  Six kilometers is close to four miles, right?  Keep running, you can do it.  And I did.  I made it to six kilometers from start to finish with no walking.  I almost broke into tears I was so, well, I don't even know what emotion it was.  The, "I did it!" emotion maybe?  Talk about sweaty.

I have my second eye surgery one week before the race on the fourth of July.  Although I won't be racing no matter what.  I'll be jogging at best.  Or I'll be walking it if I'm not cleared to run after the surgery.  But I know I can make the distance after yesterday's run.  That's more than enough of an accomplishment for a Tuesday for me.

The Big Boy Update:  Lack of Pacification Device.  He's having his pacifiers removed one by one.  He's not that thrilled with us, but he's also not that angry.  Random pacifiers have been put away.  The one attached to his car seat is gone and he only gets handed one at bedtime.  Naps involve some time for loud complaints until he falls asleep, but he does go to sleep and so far, no fingers or thumbs in his mouth.  Next task, training pants.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  She is HUNGRY.  Boy oh boy, when she runs into the wall of hunger, the sounds that come out of her mouth.   Anger, fury, disbelief.  Where is the foods, mama?  I mention this because I'm going to have to wrap this up stat, or she's going to figure out how to use the telephone to call someone who will feed her if I don't get a move on.