Forcing myself to run at my age!

Well, happy birthday to me! Today I am officially in the next age group. I guess they call it the "masters" group? If it is strictly by age, ok; but if it implies some sort of "mastery" of the art of running, fuhgedaboutit! And what a day to be feeling my age!

In the last entry, I went on about motivation. Well, Tuesday morning I got up and did the running thing, running 4.06 miles in 18:12 out and 15:54 back (not a bad little run). I think I am starting to transition into the "maintenance" phase of running and out of the training phase. But right now, I'm trying to overcome the motivation hurdle.

Wednesday, I slept in. I just woke up late, though fortunately early enough to get everyone else moving.

Yesterday (Thursday), I played with my alarm all morning. It went off, and I actually hit snooze. Then it went off again, and again with the snooze. Eventually, I gave up trying.

Today (Friday & my birthday!) I forced myself up. Then I forced myself out to walk Charlie. And I forced myself to follow him. Poor Charlie! I felt like I was holding him back! But we plodded through. Then I forced myself back out (yes, into the cold ... it was cold out this morning), and I ran a slower 4.05 miles. It took 36:17 for a pace of 8:57. I knew how I was feeling, so I forced myself out the 2 miles, instead of trying 2 laps in the neighborhood. I knew that if I were not forced to have to run all the way back, there was no way I would make 4 miles.

So it did feel good. But I feel old. I should have forced myself to run yesterday on more sleep than today. As long as I can get in a long run tomorrow (in the midst of volleyball tourney) then I will end up not so bad this week. Not so bad for getting back into running. And I only took 1 week off! But now that I'm 40, it's harder to bounce back (sounds like a good excuse). But hey, as long as it doesn't kill me, at least it will keep me looking younger (like I need that!) Ok, I'm getting really sarcastic about all this ... must be getting crotchety in my old age.

In the end, it will be worth it to keep on keeping on. I am only 300 miles from a 1000 mile year, and I've got these last 3 months to do it in. Just because I "messed up" my weekly goals last week, I can still make this month's goal. And even with the way I feel, I still enjoy running. Maybe as I get "older" I should seek out a way to do it not so dang early in the morning. But hey, it helps the dog get out and get his exercise. So I'll keep plodding on. It's not such a bad thing. Yes, I'll keep plodding on, and I'll even enjoy it!