Week 4, Run 3

Boy, oh boy! Guess what? In exactly 1 week, I’m scheduled to be running for 20 minutes straight with no stops. NO STOPS! I’m so pumped about this! I cannot wait to get out there next Friday!

I have some more good news! For the first time in a long time, I have an injury caused by doing something athletic! I’ve got a pinched nerve in my big toe on my right foot (from it being crammed in a ski boot for 2 days and then running on it), and it’s been causing a lot of pain the past few days. My mother asked me why I was so happy about having a foot injury, and I joyfully explained that I got an injury from actually DOING something (I’d rather have a pinched nerve from skiing and running than a strained arm from reaching too far for the remote. Heehee!).

That all being said, I promised myself last night that, no matter how bad my foot hurt this morning, I was going to run, even if I had to hobble through it. After icing it, heating it, elevating it, and having a nice foot rub, I felt like I could take on the world when I woke up this morning. During today’s run, my toe only bothered me twice, and both of the pain “spasms” were completely bearable. I sure hope it feels better in time for me to continue running on Monday!

I let my sister use my car to drive to school today, as I’m on finals break this weekend, and too late realized that I’d left my earbuds in the car. After searching the house for earphones of any kind, all I could find was a plug-in speaker for my iPod, which I ended up using for today’s run. It didn’t take the place of my earbuds, but I liked being able to hear my breathing and my steps for once!

I found that I was right on Wednesday’s post. After having 2 days of rest from donating blood, I felt much better this morning. I breezed right through the first three runs (3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 3 minutes), and I only had slight troubles running the last 5 minute run. My lungs felt great, but my legs were tired. To help me out, I pictured my sisters and friends following me in their car, cheering me on (from Monday’s run)! Just by changing my thinking, I was able to finish the run with energy to spare!

I can’t wait til the next run on Monday! I’m really excited that I’ve kept with the program this long, and I can’t wait til I can finally say that I finished it, 5 weeks from now!

As always, keep up the great work, and remember that every one of your runs starts with 1 step!