Running Update

I can't believe it's already August and I can't believe that it's cold. But that's not what this post is about even though I'm upset that the sun is in hiding. What August really tells me is that I have a little over 2 months till my marathon. ddklajreoiajf?!?! SIGH. Am I ready? Hmm....?

I can think of a million excuses why its been hard to find time to run. Going to Asia in May threw off my training schedule. Taking care of Mighty has made it difficult to run. Lots of weddings & showers have consumed my weekends making long runs impossible. I can probably go on, but the point is that I still haven't come to a place where I'm determined to conquer running. Sadly, running is still a very mentally challenging block for me. Richard tells me that it's 90% mental and 10% physical and I can't seem to break down that mental wall. Yes, I am a baby..but I'm slowly improving. I have to. Otherwise, I will hear it from Richard.

You see, running with Richard is not fun simply because he won't let me do what I want. He won't let me slow down, give up, finish half heartedly...and if I do Richard will be screaming down my throat! He's like the high school football coach I never signed up for. A lot of times I just feel like yelling back and sometimes I do. I wish he could disappear because then I could listen to my mind telling me to stop. Well, this happened again on Tuesday while we were running 3 miles. I was panting and thinking, "man, this is so not fun. Richard is not being nice to me (translation: he is in the way of what I want)." Then I realized something - we like people who give us what we like. We want to be around people who will affirm what we want. But a lot of times getting what we want isn't best for us and we need that friend who will love us enough to tell us what's actually for our good, even if we don't want to hear it. Then I had another epiphany - Richard is that friend! His yelling is actually an expression of love and he's not out to eat me like I'm some piece of juicy steak. Gasp, am I actually learning life lessons from running? I actually learn a lot from running and it's inspiring, but reality hits me and I remember that running actually takes hard work...not just a little inspiration. But I suppose a little inspiration won't hurt.