Always Better Than Yesterday. Duh.

It's my own fault, really. I'm the one who has "liked" about a thousand Facebook running pages all of which posts tons of inspirational quotes and pictures to keep the likes of me going. By and large, I love reading them.

Today's one of those days, though, where I had a twinge of that faintly familiar feeling where I feel on the outside of running because I'm clearly not doing it like everyone else. The quotes and sayings all seem to say so.

Now, you know by now that my insecurities about running have not just taken a back seat to feeling awesome but that most of those insecurities have been left in the dust. So, when reading today about how if I'm not pushing myself to be better today than I was yesterday, I didn't feel bad about myself. I just felt mildly annoyed.

It was when I was just out mowing the lawn that I realized why. I mean, there I was mowing. Believe when I say that was not on my evening agenda! My legs hurt from all of the furniture and box moving of yesterday into late, late last night. Oh, and from the pool time where there's little in terms of rest (because if you're resting, you don't stand a chance to school the rest of the family at basketball, duh). Oh, and from the running the day before which followed the painting from the day before that. And, from this morning's run. And, from just living a life. So, yeah, my legs hurt right now. A lot. They're fine until I want to do something more strenuous than walk, and then they're all sassy (and, by that I mean cussing up a storm) at me.

My run this morning wasn't too bad. Frankly, it felt better than Saturday's. But, I've had better. I've also had worse. The real bottom line is I went.

As compared to some of my other runs, this one was a stink. As compared to others or, frankly, to not going at all? It rocked. So, the way I see it is that every, single day is better than the one before simply by getting out there and going.

(Or, stopping occasionally because I have a dog who loves to investigate the sites now and then ...)

My morning glory in a big patch of Morning Glories ...

Yes, I love motivational quotes and phrases. Today's "Be better than you were yesterday" directive and its intended spirit directly about running can bite me. The better me mowed the lawn and is about to settle in for some outstanding trash tv. And, tomorrow, I rest from running. See you then!

Running Related

Sprinkled throughout my summer entries have been tales of woe regarding unexpected aches and soreness due to painting and other home make-over, finally-fix-it-up projects. I'm very pleased to report that on the nearest of horizons, this ...

It's been right on my desk next to me ...
staring at me in its happy cupcake way ...

... and, these ...

Years-o-bling ... excellent memories!!

... will finally be hanging on this ...

It looks wrong because it's upside down ... I can't wait to make
it look all kinds of right!!

... over there!

That gets to happen when these finishing touches ...

Finishing touches to make the baseboards look awesome!

... are, well, finished so as to move all of that stuff you saw surrounding the picture/medal hanger back into the room where it normally lives! Once that happens, the hanger goes up and gets adorned!

Thank goodness Lizzy showed up to help:

What a relief to have her here to speed progress along ...

By the way, yes, that was Aaron you saw in those black and white pics from his rugby days. They'll get repositioned in the same area. In the meantime, take a closer look:

A serious bad ass ... I realize it's hard to tell, but believe when
I say I have a story of him "Superman-ing" at someone on the
field ... whom he flattened while he casually got up and trotted
off to get back in the play ...

So, the homestead redos are incorporating a nice handful of things highlighting my most unexpected endeavor ... and, right before I'm about to celebrate five years of doing so! Yup! That anniversary is right around the corner!

Between now and then, there's more running to do, so Elly and I will be back at it tomorrow! It just has to feel better than it did yesterday ... right ?!!? In the meantime, here's a pic of one of my latest and greatest acquisitions ... I realize it has nothing at all to do with running, but not everything has to!

I'm not usually one for the novelty planter, but this owl needed
me! And, it needed that light green hair, don'tcha think?

Make sure your surroundings are happy and celebrate what you love! That makes the whole effort that much more fun! We'll see you after the morning run no matter how it goes!

Perseverance Personified

Man, they totally got it right on the Distant Runners Facebook page today:

My seven miles this morning felt like a marathon!! (as if I know what that feels like, but I know how to extrapolate with the best of 'em, so I bet I get it to a point!) I knew before heading out this was going to feel rough. As if that weren't already enough to put a damper on the morning, Elly did her best to make me feel bad for not taking her:

"I know what getting my picture taken before she goes to the
door means. It means I'm about to be totally abandonded!!"

It was never in the plan to take her. She just didn't know that.

But, in fairness, it wasn't in my plan for the run to be so hard, either, so, I'd say we're even! Let's just say that a week chock full of house projects including a lot of painting (remember the squats/lunges you wind up doing repeatedly getting up and down from a chair ...) and a long run don't mix that well. I kept trying to remind myself that there are tons of others who cross train all the time, then I kept going back to the fact that I'm not one of those people, and even if I were, my legs still hurt today! So, the "yeah, but, others ..." game didn't win today. It never does. You know how I feel about comparing yourself to someone else, anyway ... hardly ever a great idea!

Then, I decided to compare myself to myself. Ahh ... this had more promise. I thought about how I just ran 13.1 miles last Saturday only to turn around this weekend and run seven. I further thought about how this is the third time I've bounced back into weekend long runs/training schedule this year. I've not before been able to pull off one bounce-back like that, much less three. While I know this run was less than stellar (for real ... it was the real deal of a crap run; I have nothing to hide and I know the difference!), I knew I'd be better served cutting myself some slack!

No matter how a run goes, though, there are always some constants like finding money (yay for today's three pennies!) and seeing the sites:

Sadly no longer in flight (it's not like it's
a smushed squirrel or something). But, it's
mighty lovely!

I kinda wanted to see some fairies emerge from the woodland
scene ... don't you?

The happiest view, though, was my end point. That's where I felt like this:

That's not a show ... that's exactly how I
felt in that moment. Unfortunately!

I was pleased to have run the whole distance regardless of how I felt, and, I was further pleased to finish with a built-in cool-down walk to keep things that wanted to cramp and fold in half (ensuring I would not again embark on such activity this morning) loose! I suspect next week's long run will be better. With a whole week and a few short runs in between, things ought to start shaking out to normal very soon.

Today's run was perseverance personified!! That's a victory in and of itself! The next run is Monday, but before that, we rest!! Ahhh ... sleeping innnnnn ... I'll see you after a very long night's rest!

Whatever It Takes

I'm just saying that a 7-mile run tomorrow morning will be way more fun than shooting out of bed this morning to mow the lawn before it rained. I may retract that sentiment, though, if it rains again and I wind up on the treadmill. Wherever it takes place, the run will be done because that's what it takes to get to that finish line! Happy Friday, and I'll see you after!

Aaaannnnd, We're Off!

Okay, there are tons of runners who can relate to this and totally find this funny:

I can appreciate the humor, but I cannot relate! Me + Running does not = time! It couldn't be about time when I started because I would have spent too much time telling myself I wasn't good enough (and, good enough for what is the real issue ...). It's not about time now because, for the most part, I just don't care! I have a time goal for my Half in April, but that's it between now and then. Even then, it's a goal that will abruptly adjust to the I Don't Care At All Zone should the rest of my world not accommodate the luxury of focusing on such an aspect. Time. I just roll with it, and it totally works.

Besides, if I were always focused on my watch, how would I see all of the pennies? Or the weeds and flowers? Or the road kill? AND, if I were focused on time, I don't think I would easily pursuade any of my little pals to ever join me! This morning is a primo example as I asked PC#3 to come along with me, and he readily and happily agreed ! Yay, me! He was also very down with the fact that it was a 2-mile run, so that didn't hurt a bit!

It was one of the mornings where the temperature felt quite
nice, but you stop running only to experience your own,
personal sweat bath!

He and I not only had a fun run, but I had a very good one especially considering I've not run since Saturday! I thought this one might hurt a little. It only hurt in the Getting Up Earlier Than I Wanted To category. But, we addressed that yesterday, right?!

Saturday's run will be more telling than today's (I have to start the schedule with seven!! No fair!), but I'm ready for it. I won't have any of my pals with me, though. Not even this one even though she's be the most eager to go:

"I just cruised 2, mommy ... what's 5
more? I have 4-wheel drive, after all!"

Before piling the miles back on, we already get to rest tomorrow!! I'll be checking in then!

Oh, My ...

Let's just say that when I finally managed to pull down the calendar and map out the miles between here and September's Half, I was a little taken back by how fast that date is going to come! Gulp! I'd fantasized that there were enough weeks between now and then that I had the luxury to pick and choose if I was going to run this weekend. Apparently, it would serve me better to get back out there!!

Seeing as I just finished the room painting I planned for today, I'm not inspired to run tomorrow. At all. (I was inspired to let a potty word slip out when I mapped my miles, though, just sayin'.)

Yes, it's time to get my eyes back on a prize to motivate myself! And, the prize I envision is always, always, the finish line. The literal finish line. I love crossing it almost more than I love getting a medal (after all, the finish line can be blurry; I can check and recheck out the medal after I'm showered and have the sweat out of my eyes!). I always love the after-run huggin', too, so that's also always in the prize picture, too.

I was thinking earlier today about how easy it would be to just let this running thing go -- not because I want to, but because there's that much of life that would easily fill its slot. Two different grocery store stops, an outing with my young Crewer, painting, swimming (and, oh yeah, working*) ...

*

... and everything involved in making all of the aforementioned activities happen today ... yeah, none of that screamed there's so much extra time, why don't you consider running ?! I'm saying I get how it never feels like there's time to exercise. And, there's always a reason not to. I totally get it. I just refuse to get swallowed by it. And, if I'm being honest, the only real thing I'm trading to run is sleeping later. That's become too hard to justify no matter how crazy crabby I am most mornings about having to trade sleep for a run.

With that, you and I both now know what I'm doing tomorrow!! It's a super-short one (yeah!!!), but it's still necessary (sigh!)! Apparently, Elly and I will see you after our morning run!

The Other Side of the Run

Every so often, the I Love To Run Facebook page posts: "You either ran today, or you didn't." I'm here to say I TOTALLY DIDN'T. It didn't even cross my mind. So, there!

Yes, yes, it's a Rest Day anyway. It's also post-Half time where the euphoria of the run wanes and normal life resumes, medal- and fanfare-free! It would be something of a let-down, but along with the waning comes the return of muscles feeling normal again. So, you give and you take. And, you make another goal, and you start all over again. Whee!! By mentioning that, you'd think I spent time today mapping out what I need to accomplish September's Half. But, I did not.

Other things I did not do today:

• Get up early
• Miss seeing and snagging three dimes in three different locations while out and about
• Win at Quiddler against Pit Crew #3 who destroyed my score
• Lose at basketball BACON (known as HORSE to everyone else in the world) in the pool again against PC#3
• Get my work done so I now have to finish it tonight (whoopsie)
• Care that I didn't get my work done so I now have to finish it tonight

I love that it's summer so those can top the list of notables today.

One thing I did do is stumble upon what is probably the greatest surprise ever ... Am I the only one who didn't know about this???

And, do you know how awesome this is in the Outside-In Turkey Tamale Pie recipe (here! it's right here!)!! IT'S SO GOOD. Check it out, and try it out. Easy, easy on the tummy, so so so yummy!

I had to share the update! Give it a whirl!

I have no plans to run tomorrow, but I am definitely figuring out my schedule!! Until then, I hope you stumble upon a happy surprise for yourself, and I'll see you tomorrow with a plan!