My Non-Tagged Post of the Day

First, thank you for all of your comments!  It felt great to have such wonderful encouragement from all of you - and all the commiseration for my poor shins.  (Oh and Heather, you are right - there's lots of gear.  The first year seems like you spend a lot of money on a lot of stuff.  But it all is worth it!)

Speaking of my shins...I went on a 3 mile run this morning and it was chilly (for Florida, mind you) and damp - in the upper 40's with a beautiful mist rising up from the open grassy spaces and the "lakes" (aka retention ponds) in the neighborhood.  I think the cold air helped my shins a little.  They didn't feel like being stabbed with butcher knives today, just steak knives, which really is a vast improvement. 

I had a super stressful day yesterday with nothing necessarily bad happening, but just constant work of one sort of another.  You know you're having a bit of a rough day when lunch ends up being at 4:30 and consisting of peanut butter and a kashi "breakfast bar" because you realize that you'll be cooking and feeding the family again soon and you need something to just tie you over until after you go get your bike from your local bike shop and pick up your children from daycare.  Anyway, the reason for all of that is that I think it made me well, superfast (for me) this morning.  That and I'll admit, I was wearing my running pants which keep my legs from sticking together at the top like they normally do when I wear running shorts, so my stride was better too. (Yes, I'm in the market for running shorts that work a little better for me.)

Ok, confessions made, like I said - I was superfast (for me) this morning.  I did my 1st mile in 9:05.  Which explained why my HR monitor was beeping like mad by the 1/2 mile point and why my lungs were not happy (I have minor asthma that kicks in when the air is cold - and I could see my breath while running this morning).  But I was impressed with myself.  Of course, I also slowed my pace down too because it dawned on me that if I was running harder my shins would probably hurt more later.  Plus, it was supposed to be an easy 3 mile run and 9:05 isn't really an easy pace for me.  I kept doing my 5/1's and was chugging along. 

I round the corner for the home stretch and see two gorgeous brindled greyhounds and their owner who is holding their leashes down by their backs and really bracing.  It dawns on me that he's bracing and talking to them calmly and softly, so I look at the greyhounds again. They're standing stock still and their faces have a look of intensity, like they want to chase my butt down and rip me to pieces as though I'm a rabbit.  I shout out to the guy - "Just what you needed this morning, a rabbit for your sight hounds."  He started laughing and said "yep. But it's not like we haven't seen you out here running before!"  If only I had that type of visceral intensity that those dogs did, I would be wicked fast.  But I'm not sure if I'd really have all that much fun if I had their intensity, and for me that's what this is all about.  Getting faster may take me time, but I'm in no hurry - the back of the pack is fun!  Come to think of it, I'm glad he didn't let go.

I look down at my watch after I pass the dogs, and see I'm not even at 29 yet, which is the next time I am to walk my 1.  I keep running and I'm in the home stretch and then cars start coming at me, which always slows me down because I get into self preservation mode and I'm ready to spring off the road on to the grass a moments notice (which I've had to do a few times - talking on the cellphone while drinking coffee and driving kids to school in the big SUV is my biggest telltale sign that I will be jumping soon.  I've learned to look inside the car at the driver, not just at the car.)  I get to the point where I decide I need to be on the sidewalk if I want to live another day (red car who was riding the road at the point where it meets the gutter and notices that I'm on the road just before I leap off, you were not my friend this morning), and I'm running  the side walk.  I look down and I'm at 29:40.  So I keep running until 30, walk my 1 and then run up the hill and to the house.  32:30.  Oh yeah! 

3.05 miles completed in 32:30.  A good run!

I'm hoping to get some yoga in today too because I didn't get my cross training done yesterday... Mr. Darcy overslept, I ended up taking the ladies to daycare (in my workout gear, always attractive) and traffic was terrible (it's rain people, it happens. you just drive through it.) so I didn't get home to even start work until 8:45, then I ended up working like a mad woman only looking up at 4:30 when my stomach was making all sorts of angry, hungry noises, and then working until 4:50, heading to the bike shop to try to get my bike before they close at 6 pm (it's about 30-40 minutes away), then back to get the girls, and then cooking dinner, trying to tame the wild children that they were last night, then bedtime, and by 8:45 pm when we left their bedroom the best I could do was make my way to the sofa. 

Yoga counts as cross training for running (especially since I have yoga for endurance runners DVR'd), of course now that I have the bike back I will be making myself get out and bike - chilly weather makes me not want to ride and I hate the trainer.  I have to become friends with it this season, I know, but ugh. So anyway, I'm going to try to fit that in if I can so I haven't really skipped a workout. : )  We'll see how it goes.

And off I go....