Okay, there are many reasons I love running, and there will likely be many posts with this title through the years.

But here’s the reason (as of last Thursday before I went on vacation) this time:

I love that your mind and body both simultaneous tell you that you can’t do it and that you can do it. Then when you do it (since you could all along), the feeling of power and accomplishment is always there for you.

When I started my run Thursday, I thought there was no way I could finish it. I had planned a 5-mile tempo run, which in my slightly out-of-shape-state right now, means a one mile warm-up, 3 to 3.5 miles at (or around) race pace, and a .5 mile to one mile cool down. Ha! I was exhausted. I had spent the whole day trying to finish everything so I could leave town, didn’t get through as much as I wanted, had to pack and work for the rest of the evening, but knew I had to get my run in…

I started running around the track with a ‘not gonna happen, so we’ll just see how far we get’ mentality. About half a lap around my 12th of a mile track, I got a sharp pain through my left ankle. OW! But, that was it. It was done. About another lap around and my right calf tightened up for a few laps. Annoying calf. But it got better. I got on the treadmill and cranked up the speed to something I knew I could handle for three miles and it went so fast! I turned up the speed a couple of times when I knew I was going to make it. By the end, I was in a great mood, knowing I did a workout as planned even though when I started, everything was telling me I couldn’t.

Now I have to get that ‘tempo’ speed up to where I want it to be – which is certainly not where it was for that workout. I made a good start earlier this week…but that’s another post.