Confessions of an Amateur Athlete

People ask me a lot "do you ever have 'bad' runs"?  The answer is yes, absolutely.  If you only ever have easy runs, you're not doing it right.  My long run yesterday, was anything but fun or easy.  It was  a 20-miler, so I knew going in that it wasn't going to be a piece of cake.  But I also knew I'd pull through.   However, what I wasn't anticipating was the fact I was still getting over my cold and I was zapped of all energy.  My pace was super slow but I was determined to finish my goal.  By mile 17, I thought my knees would buckle. By mile 18, everything ached and was seizing. By mile 19, I was near tears.  But by golly I made it to 20! The pic snapped of me a few weeks ago is only partially what I must of looked like chugging along on the canal!   Luckily, I had a friend running with me for the last really tough part (15 miles worth in fact).  Had it not been for him I might still be out there trying to finish. ...

Me running through the desert trail   It's rare that I can tell you my long run felt amazing, that I had tons of energy, or that I could've went farther.  But today was an exception.  I was feeling good... and adventurous... so I pushed it to 20!   I do have to give props to my running partner of the day, Steve.  He suggested the extra miles half-way through our run and we both decided to go for it! That's the great thing about running with a friend sometimes.  You can push each other past your limits and see just how far you can go.   Where was all my energy coming from?  Maybe it was my overnight oats for breakfast.  Maybe it was the amazing weather... sorry all of you dealing with major snowy and icy conditions, but this is the advantage to living in the desert! But don't ya'll worry... you'll be laughing at me come summertime!   Besides all of that.. I do believe Steve pushing me was definitely the big factor that h...