Snowy 10 mile run.

Today I did a "two-a-day". I ran 4 miles this morning & lifted weights and then this evening I did a Jillian Michael's DVD. Feeling pretty strong today!! I am just motivated to keep working on building strength, especially now that I am training for a 15 mile run in March. I don't want my strength work to suffer b/c I am getting more miles in.

Speaking of more miles, I ran with my running buddies yesterday. 10 miles.Outside. In.the.snow. DEFINITELY not comfortable! lol I went into it knowing my feet would get wet. I was telling my running buddies that as we were at mile 3 or so, and we were commenting on how the snow didn't seem to be "wet" snow, we felt pretty good. Well, going on mile 5, we were feeling it. A few times during our run, we would cross streets & that's when you would feel the difference. The concrete just felt right. In the snow our feet were slipping, and every time our foot would come down, you would need to stabilize it. It was hard work and mile 6-8 were terrible. Even mile 9 was hard, but I knew we were almost done, so I hobbled through it. When we were done running, my legs just felt like tree trunks, or elephant legs. They were just heavy. And the PAIN! Oh my, I was scared to sit down, but I knew I had to go get my kids & I had to drive to go get them...so my muscles cramped up, all that stabilizing in the snow? Yeah, I felt that in every single muscle in my leg! A hot shower helped, but I still needed to take some pain medicine later that day. Sheesh! It was hard, but definitely worth it!!

It's the hard things, where you don't know if you're going to finish, that make you stronger. Running is definitely a mental thing, even more so than physical, I think. Your mind can either be your best asset or worst enemy, so that is where the real test comes in. I think a lot of things in life can be related to that. In fact running in the snow reminded me a lot of how life works out. Sometimes your footing is unstable, you may even slip & slide when you take a step. However, you keep going, not knowing how the next step will turn out. You fight through the mush, that wants to pull you down, to keep going & keep moving. Every step is a step of faith, & you need to be strong mentally & physically to finish strong. It is not easy, but it is worth it, it is painful, but you are getting stronger.

sweaty from my work out, but excited about my muscles!