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Saturday morning I ran a 4 mile race with my friend Crystal. This was my third time running this race, and I really like the course. We run on a rolling country road past fields of cows and corn and over a meandering stream. It’s not a huge race, so it’s peaceful once you start running. No crazy crowds or vehicles impatiently waiting for us to move out of their way. Normally it’s hot and humid the day of the race, but we lucked out with cooler temperatures and lower humidity than usual, which made the race even more enjoyable.
And you know you’re in the country when they warn you to shut the gate after you leave the field where we all parked so the cows don’t get out 🙂
It was a really good thing that Crystal met me at our house, because I didn’t wake up until she texted me to say she was here. I’d completely slept through the two alarms I’d set! At least I woke up to the ping of the text. I’d laid everything out the night before, so I was able to very quickly get dressed and grab my stuff, and we were out the door only ten minutes later than planned. I hadn’t slept very well the night before, but that doesn’t usually keep me from hearing my alarms. I’m still not sure how I managed to miss them.
I’ve only run four times since the Glacier half marathon, but I felt pretty good while running this race. Not in shape, or anything, but not like a complete couch potato, either. Between traveling, being super busy building my businesses, and trying to let my feet heal, I’ve let my exercise time get pushed to the back burner lately. I want to change that, but am still trying to figure out how to fit everything in. It’s proving more challenging than I’d anticipated.
In any case, we walked and ran the race and had a good time, and then proceeded to walk an additional mile and a half or so as we retraced our steps to take some pictures of the scenery. It was a good cool down that helped save our bodies from being too sore. Since neither of us has done much running lately we knew that was going to be a consequence of this race.
I do most of my training on the treadmill because that’s what works for our schedule, but I don’t find it easy or motivating to run on the treadmill. I find it tedious and hard, and running feels like so much work, so running a race outdoors and feeling good is always a good shot of motivation for to keep going and not let my workouts slide. What motivates you to keep going?
