Whatever it Takes

Today is the last day of April.  Last night we had an event at my husband's school and I was working it as a part of my job and to support him.  I got home a little after 7 PM and could not believe when I saw my blinking clock at 4:20 AM today.  I know they were just numbers but I swear they flashed between 4:20AM and 80 mile challenge.  So back at the end of March when I was feeling pretty good, a Dailymile friend sent me a challenge invite.  Run 80 miles in April.  Well since I had been successfully kicking up my mileage and easily running 100 or on good month more than 100 miles I thought "no big deal."  Plus who tracks that stuff?  It is really just a motivational tool, right?

Well I will tell you who tracks those things: anal, overly competitive, perfectionist, control freaks, otherwise known as yours truly.  Well this should have been a done deal and I should have been able to roll over and lie to myself saying "I will run tonight after work."  Right, because I am so successful at running after a long day at work.  Anyway, I missed the first week of April because I was too sick to run and then I had to build back up and deal with my lingering bronchitis.  So most people, insert normal people, would just say "oh well stuff happens."  Or you could take the road less traveled, like I often do, and see the monthly miles that are far below your challenge goal taunting you for your failure to follow through with a simple commitment.    Hey this approach may not be for everyone: potato / potahto.

The last few weeks I have been back at my normal mileage and the challenge goal has seemed almost possible.  Since last Saturday when I was able to get my 6 miles in, when I expected to be stopped by rain, I saw that my goal was attainable.  I had done the math and figured out that if planned just right I could run my final three miles this AM.  So that blinking clock might have said 4:20 AM.  My head may have said you just got home from work 9 hours ago.  But my heart said "what a wuss you challenged yourself to 80 miles and all that is standing between you and that goal is the front door."  So, bye bye bed and hello Skechers Go Run shoes.  It wasn't the best run ever.  I was tired, I was slow, but I was out there.

Tomorrow I begin to face a far more daunting challenge.  I will be meeting my husband after work to run the track.  We are running a 3K around a track next Tuesday as part of the Atlanta Track Club Season.  For any girl who has ever been the slowest miler in school you can understand this.  I am terrified.  As many races as I do, the idea of people watching me run around a track just brings back all those memories and I am in high school all over again.  Well time to dig deep and not because the course is physically demanding.  This is a mental hurdle I need to clear.