It's Time to Get Uncomfortable Again

#PoweredByGlitter

I meant to write this post yesterday, but the day just got away from me.  Yesterday I ran the 500 Festival 3 Miler, but yesterday was also Declare It Day, and I was going to declare to you my goal of running a sub-30 minute 5K by the end of the year.

I've talked about doing this before, but I have never really worked on it.  At first, I just kind of hoped I would gradually get faster as I kept running.  And then I decided I was happy running my comfortable pace and I didn't care if I ever got faster.  And then, with my mind wandering during a run a couple of weeks ago, I started thinking....

There's nothing wrong with the comfortable pace I run, but once upon a time even this was uncomfortable.  Not so long ago, in fact.  I started running on June 7, 2012.  I didn't run my first 5K without walking until December of that year.  I didn't do it again until April of the following year.  It was still really hard for me to even run at all.  But then it became easy, and so I added miles and ran half marathons until I'm no longer intimidated by that distance.  I ran a full marathon, and registered for another, and while that is still somewhat daunting, I have no doubt I can complete the distance even if it takes a long time.

I do all these runs at my easy pace.  I don't really have a race pace, I just run what feels comfortable to me all the time.  But what if I didn't?  What if I pushed myself so it was uncomfortable again, like it was in the beginning just to run at all?  Then I remembered my friend Trena (check out her blog at http://www.591miles.com/).

I first met Trena last summer when she was coaching our Indy Women's training group.  She's fast, and wins or places in a lot of races.  I assumed she'd always been a fast runner and had been running all her life, until I read her blog.  She was an 11 minute miler who didn't actually like running not all that long ago.  Well, if Trena can go from there to where she is now, then what could I do if I pushed myself?  I've already got a head start, since I'm an 11 minute miler who really loves running.

The #FBG make running fun at any pace!

So, back to yesterday. I ran the 3 Miler in 33:23, which is an 11:07 pace.  (My watch shows I did 3:09 with a 10:50 pace, but whatever.)  That's where I'm starting.  So it's time for me to get uncomfortable, to push some of my runs into the yellow zone where it feels hard again instead of easy.

And yesterday's race?  Super fun.  I've never done these Miler Series races leading up to the Mini before.  I really liked it - great course starting at the NCAA Hall of Champions, looping around the Zoo and back, with beautiful views of downtown.  We could wait inside until the race started, which was much appreciated since it was so cold yesterday.  And so many of my friends were there, which just made it awesome.  I felt great and I ran well.  I'm probably due for a bad run soon because really all my runs this year have just been those amazing runs where I feel like I could go all day if someone would just bring me some pancakes after a couple of hours.  Remind me of that feeling in a couple of months when it's hard and doesn't always feel like that?

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