Mission Accomplished

Last weekend, I had a bad run.  Everyone heard about it, whether they wanted to or not (which, now that I think about it, is probably not all that different from every other reiteration of my training program), and I was a "Negative Nancy" for days.  I was a complete black cloud.

Remember how I always write that I have been blessed with great friends and awesome people in my life?  This week, they really shined, and they helped me to recover from my misery.  It didn't happen immediately, as I tend to hold on to things and forget to let go, but I finally accepted their help.

I promised that I would forget about training and just run to run, at least once this week.  I knew that the best way to do this was to run with a friend, so I was ecstatic when I received a text from my friend Kate notifying me that she was running with a group at Fit2Run in downtown St. Pete.  PERFECT!  

The challenge this week from Pete at A-Train Consulting was on!  I left my watch, ipod and fuel belt at home.  I left work and headed downtown, actually arriving at the store earlier than I have been at anything in quite some time.  Since I had time to spare, I perused the brightly colored women's section and selected a blue patterned headband to purchase and wear on the run.  Yay, retail therapy!  Kate introduced me to some of the people she knew, and I chatted to a girl who is racing for 70.3 San Juan this coming March while I stretched.  

The clock turned to 6:30pm, and off we went!  Kate and I had a great talk while we ran the 2 miles that took us around the Pier and up to Crowleys, where we joined the Running For Brews crew.  We signed in, listened for instructions, and off we went again.  The route took us down by the water, where we saw a large pod of dolphins putting on a show.  Have I mentioned that I love living in Florida?  It was about this time when I realized that perhaps leaving my fuel belt behind was not all that great of an idea, but I knew that there was a water fountain at the turn around point, so it wasn't so terrible!  We got a drink and turned around to head back to Crowleys, cheering on the others in our group along the way.

There were two 10 gallon coolers filled with the most delicious water I have ever had - I kid you not.  It was that good.  Kate had introduced me to Rob, and when he arrived back at the bar Kate treated us to nice cold beers.  I selected a draft of Crazy Mountain Amber Ale, which was fantastic!  The group has raffles and what not at each run, so while we waited for the winners to be announced, we got to chatting.

Turns out that Rob has lost 150+ pounds!  An entire person.  Kate has also dropped an enormous amount of weight (and a person) as well - she is just 4 pounds shy of her goal weight.  She is so inspiring that she won an Athleta award at the Iron Girl Half Marathon.  I told you I hang out with awesome people!

I left the group in great spirits.  I have no idea how long it took me to run those 5 miles, and while I have a good idea, I choose not to care.  It was one of the best runs EVER.  The weather was nice, the company was great, and I didn't have any remnants of my black cloud.  

As I was driving home, still patting myself on the back for getting out there and running "naked," as runners call runs sans-technology, I put a Sister Hazel cd in the player.  They are one of my favorite bands, and I always feel energized and ready to take on anything.  One of my favorite songs is "Change your mind."  If you have 4 minutes, you can watch an acoustic performance here - I love this song!

I am proud to say that my reset button has been pushed.  I felt so good after last night that I decided that I wouldn't "train" for another week.  I will simply just "play."  I will swim, bike and run as though I am 10 years old, actively enjoying my summer vacation, squeezing every ounce of freedom out of the days.

I am looking forward to this weekend, to see my friends and bike and run and swim and smile.  

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all of you - Pete, Kate, Lisa K, Jen, JC, Rob - for helping me to find the joy in running, for giving me 'permission' to give myself a break.  A special THANK YOU to Chad, who has to live with my crabby self <3

And so I run (naked)...