Pressure

I went running this morning. It sucked. I sucked. My body just felt wrong. Everything felt forced. And, at one point, I felt like gagging. It was not pleasant.

I have been making too many excuses: it's too cold, it's too dark, it's too wet, I'm traveling, I'm not sleeping enough, I'm too tired, on and on and on. But, this week is a new week, and I will get back on track with my running routine, especially since I told Winnie that I would run the 5K event for liver health with her in about two weeks. (I need to remember to register for the race tomorrow.) She said that all her other friends and family members could and would walk the event, but that she was going to run it and that she was going to run it with me.

Sure, I've run 3.1 miles before. I've run more than that before. She and I have run more than that together before. But, after feeling so out of it and so off lately, I'm nervous that I won't be able to make it and that I'll wuss out and walk.

So, I have about two weeks to make running 3 miles feel like a breeze again. I was able to do it before and I will be able to do it again. And, it will start with tomorrow morning. I'll be up at 5:30am (even if it is dark), go for my morning run, and do some strength training and stretching when I get home. No wussing out.

Boston

I've been in Boston for the past several days. When I emailed Ryan that I was coming, he told to pack my running shoes since the weather was getting nice and that we could run together. I emailed him back, telling him that weather.com said the forecast would be about 40 degrees when I got here and that was not nice. So, instead of packing my running gear, I packed sweaters. And, now, I'm sitting here regretting those sweaters.

The weather hasn't been too bad, though it has been gray and a little drizzly, but nothing too extreme. Today, on my walk to Harvard Medical School to meet Anosheh and Luis for lunch, I crossed a river with a lovely path along it where a man was jogging. That could have been me.

When I get back to San Francisco, I will have gone about two weeks without really running or exercising. And, I'm feeling guilty about it, especially since I know how even harder it will be to start up a regular routine and feel like I'm not worn out after not running for such an extended period of time. I feel like my tummy is getting softer and my arms are geting flabbier, though I know that probably not too much has changed in my body over the past two weeks.

But, Winnie asked me if I want to run a 5K with her at the beginning of May. The race will be a good motivator and it's close enough where I'll have to not be lazy about exercising and running. So, I think I'll say yes. I can run 3.1 miles. I'll need to work on being able to run that faster though.