when the going gets tough

Yesterday was my longest limp-free run since the marathon: 6.5 miles! I'll be honest, there was nothing pretty about it....heavy legs, labored breathing, and a rainy river backdrop. About four miles into it, I had talked myself into a pretty negative cycle of thoughts. But then I suddenly realized: I had been miserable and complaining about NOT running, and here I was miserable and complaining about finally running!

Committing myself to loving every wonderful, horrible, minute of this run, I remembered the words that my esteemed running mentor Glen told me once, way back during a cold and hard Boston training run: "If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it." There is no marathon on the horizon right now; there is no PR just asking to be tackled; and there is barely any hope that I can be healthy in time for a fall race. This is hard. But I am not ready to break up with running just yet.