That's It?

I've slowly been losing my grip on my life for the past few weeks. My house is a mess, my car is a mess, I can no longer see over the piles on my desk at work, I'm supposed to find time to read an entire 268 page book between now and Tuesday, I still haven't even started gathering my tax paperwork for my accountant, and I've skipped the past 4 days of training. I had a minor mental break down last night, that my poor boyfriend came over just in time to witness, but I think I have myself put back together today. So, it was back to my training this evening.

I always dread the first run after I have skipped a few days. I expect it to be painful and miserable, like I upset the running gods and they are going to punish me for my neglect with shin splints and dehydration. Luckily, neither happened. Today was actually the best training day I have had since I started. It felt incredibly good to be out there running. My breathing felt right, nothing hurt, the weather wasn't too cold, and the sun was shining for a change. We came to the end of the 3 miles and I actually thought, "that's it?" Normally, I get to the end of the 3 miles wheezing and panting and think, "why is it still so hard to go 3 miles when I ran 7 a few days ago? Shouldn't 3 miles be feeling easy by now?" It felt amazing to stop knowing that I could have easily ran twice that. I've been waiting for this feeling for weeks! This was our last 3 miler, next week we bump it up to 4, so I sure hope I'm saying the same thing next Wednesday.

I think spring is right around the corner. It stayed light through our entire run, and I even thought I smelled fresh grass at one point along our path. That, or it was an olfactory manifestation due to lack of oxygen. I'm anxiously and impatiently awaiting the day I can ditch the extra layers. I'm getting tired of running dressed like an Eskimo! I do have to say that with all this running my legs are getting in pretty good shape. This just might be the first summer in years that I don't mind putting on a pair of shorts! Sandals, however, are going to be an entirely different story. The calluses on my feet are large enough to scare small children. But I will display them proudly, for I earned them. They are my badge of honor, for I am a runner!! (This is proof that I have completely lost my mind. Last summer I would have told my pedicurist (yes, I made that word up) that I wasn't leaving until every trace of callus was gone. This summer I will threaten her life if she even thinks about touching them!)

I got an email from Amy, one of the girls at the TNT office, asking me to be a mentor for the fall season. I'm seriously considering it. I have been enjoying this immensely and I really think I want to stay involved with LLS & TNT. Plus, it has always been my dream to run a full marathon. So, depending on what the options are for locations, I just might do a full marathon with the fall team. I need to talk to Amy about it tomorrow to find out the details, but you may not have heard the last from me when May 6th rolls around!