Thanks Amanda!

So - I took Amanda's advice on my last post and tried two things - going FASTER when I was down and grabbing a focus point (next pole, next, X, next Y, etc) and both helped.

I found that once I lengthened my stride and "sped up", I wasn't hurting quite as much and bouncing much less. That was good. My calves are still very tight no matter what but I think part of that is from the lack of physical exercise for years and part might be my shoes. I really need to get those figured out.

On the second item, it's hard to get a "focus point" since I'm on a treadmill. But, I did push myself through "this slow part" or sometimes "to the next chorus" based on the song that was on. Also, since I have the TV on ("Clean House" with closed captioning tonight) I could push myself to the next part of the show - the end of the yard sale, through this commercial, etc. That seemed to help too, as I wasn't as focused on the exact passage of time but I still had a general sense of long had passed since the show has a definite timeline.

Last, but certainly not least, when I got really mad at myself at the end, I said "Dammit Girl, you can DO this! You gave NATURAL BIRTH to TWO munchkins. This shit is NOTHING!" And, my body knew that! I just had to remind myself that if I survived giving birth and raising two boys to the age of almost 7 then running for 35 minutes is NOTHING in the big scheme of things. And if I can do childbirth I can do damn near anything! :-)

OH - and for those who care, I went for 36 minutes tonight at a 13:53 pace for 2.57 miles! LONGEST DISTANCE EVER. Which is good since I have a 5k on Saturday and I was debating whether I'd be able to finish at all. I think I can now! :-)