RunnerGirlBlog.com

Grown up running

Who knew that running would ever be such a mental sport?…Well, runners know that! I showed up for run club last Tuesday feeling a bit achy as I have been battling a hip irritation and had raced on Sunday, only further aggravating the issue. It is such a great feeling to congregate with a bunch of other people doing what you do, loving what you love. I had the awesome pleasure of meeting some new people, and I was ready to rock out a few miles with some good friends…RECOVERY STYLE. Yes my schedule called for recovery, and frankly so did my body. I was aching and my gate was awkward and I just wanted to work the last lingering bit of lactic acid out of my calves and log some miles. HOWEVER, I am a bit of a competitive girl and I like to be fast, this presented an issue. You see at run club there are groups of runners, and I enjoy running with the fast kids. So much that while my schedule said recovery and my body was screaming it too, I took off down the road at a faster then recovery pace and about ¾ of a mile in realized this was going to be bad…but then I took a turn. I am wiser now, in my older more experienced age (insert extreme sarcasm)  I know that recovery is just as key to my success as running fast, and that day was meant to have a recovery run. As a few people yelled and asked what I was doing I knew I looked foolish, and I could have just slowed my roll to a slower group that was running the same course, but I know me, and I couldn’t have done it…the backs of the fast kids would have taunted me and I would have went to fast. As I was making my spontaneous turn an old (not in age) running buddy joined me and we had the opportunity to catch up with each other, while rocking a nice recovery pace. I felt very grown up and comfortable with myself. You see a year ago, I would have ran too fast, my body would have hurt for too many days and future workouts would have suffered. So, naturally I am growing right?…well kind of, or perhaps I just want to be fast so bad I am willing to do the hard stuff. Running recovery runs is hard when your friends are tearing down the road…

Happy Running!!