Team Self-Care

Yesterday was the Saturday morning run. Our pace group divided into the faster runners, the slower runners, and the run-walkers. I'm probably the fastest in the run-walkers (hey, progress, right?) and was running with this other woman, Sally, when we discovered that we were both social workers. Then we learned that the others in the group were either social workers or LCPCs (LCPC = Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor). Random. We're supposed to come up with a team name and I vote for Team Self-Care, since that's what we're doing and it elicits a giggle from anyone who has gone through social work school. We did the Matthew Henson trail and it was pretty. It's nice getting to know some of these parks in the area. I'm keeping mental notes of them for when I do my Thursday runs/after this program is over in the middle of June.

The solo Thursday run was pushed to Friday morning. Allergies got the better of me on Thursday and I ended up passing out for a few hours when I got home from work. Oh well - I still did the run, just not on the assigned day.

I started reading this crazy book, "Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner" by Dean Karnazes. Ultramarathons are anything past 26.2 miles, and at this point in the book he's running 200 miles by himself. It was supposed to be a relay and he did the whole thing himself. While I admire his discipline, passion and tenacity, I think I'll stick to my 5Ks in June, possible 10K in October, and Disney Princess Half Marathon in February, and I like the idea of doing a full one around my 30th birthday. A milestone birthday deserves a milestone achievement, I think. Maybe before then, depending on how all this goes. I turned 27 in November, so I've got about 2.5 years for the 26.2. I hear the Marine Corps one is a good one to run, and I think this year registration was maxed out in something like 5 hours. Crazy.

Progress!

I had my Tuesday night run with BWR last night and it went pretty well. There's a group of run-walkers that I'm running(/walking) with and thanks to my nifty new shoes and insoles, I'm no longer in massive knee pain! And thanks to that, I'm no longer the slowest! I mean, I'm like the 5th slowest, but I'm not the actual slowest. The nice thing about being a complete beginner is that I see improvement and progress almost immediately. Can't argue with that!

I'm really enjoying running outside among the flowers, but I am not enjoying allergy season. My adorable little spunky orange car has a yellow film on it. I'd wash it, but what's the point?