Week IV

Yeah

I’m a little late on this post. I don’t know what else you would expect from me.

And I’m late almost a whole week to be exact.

But Week 4 of training was pretty fun!

Louis protecting his pumpkins

I dog/house/plant sat for my insanely talented artist friend Zoë (you can find some of her work on her instagram ) while she was on her honeymoon. Can’t say I was too mad about it. Louis is such a good nugget, and her front porch is perfect for cheese and wine. It’s also so so close to everything that it took me 5 minutes to drive to work this week instead of 30. Big win.

Because of all of this, finding my routine in a new place was a little bit of a challenge. Any time I house sit for friends, it’s almost like a mini vacation for me. And with vacation, why would I want to run and do work? Why would I even want to put pants on? I did manage to put on pants (unwillingly) because I didn’t really have a choice, but you better believe all I wanted to do was swing on the front porch or watch scary movies.

As I’ve learned from the Run With Aim group started by raceacrossthestates on Instagram, shifting your mindset from having to do something to getting to do something can seriously change your perspective of everything for the rest of the day. So, starting with what I got to do…

I got to run down new roads and through neighborhoods I had never ran around. To be honest, I’m tempted to go to her neighborhood just to run because it was so much fun. There are huge trees that line the roads, and is less than a mile from City Park and the University Lakes! I decided about a mile into my first run exploring the neighborhood to change my 5 mile run to 8 miles. I mean why not, right?

I really couldn’t have asked for a more relaxing running course.

So for the first month of training, I was trying hard to not focus on my pace and just focus on the ride. Like with anything in life, I tend to stress about time. How long will it take me to graduate? How quickly can I save up for a house? Will I have to wait 10 years to get married? My friends didn’t have to wait 10 years. How quickly can my running pace be? If it’s not a sub 7 pace, then it wasn’t a run at all.

I’m great at beating myself up over things that truly can’t happen immediately. Times a bitch, to be honest.

But with that focus on the last month, I managed to enjoy my runs again and focus on more important things like my breathing, oxygen balance, and form. Not every run has to be the fastest (which is good news seeing as how that is completely unachievable).

So with that, I’ll leave you till next week…

I mean… see you again in two days.

XOXO (I’ve watched too much Gossip Girl, clearly),

Amy