The first thing that I want to mention is that although I was not trying to solicit compliments on Tuesday’s pity party post, I really did appreciate all of the nice and caring things that you said.  I guess that we all have our own struggles, and I just decided to throw mine out there for all to see–mostly just to remind myself that there I will always have challenges.  The important part is that I always pull through the struggles, and come out even stronger than before in the end.

It’s funny how the universe kind of resets everything for us periodically.

Sort of like when you have a shitty run; your goal is 6 miles, but by mile 2, you’re huffing and puffing.  Your legs hit the wall, and your body will not let you travel another step.  Your mind has been telling you to turn around since you pressed ‘play’ on your iPod.

The next day, you give it another shot–you’re not expecting much after the prior days’ embarrassing performance.  But you totally nail it.  You feel better than you’ve felt in ages; you run faster than you have in months.

And your running world is instantly reset.  The running Gods and Goddesses have once again smiled down upon you.  You feel like you can accomplish anything.

Today, I’m having that moment.

Technically, now that my 15K is over and done with, I’m officially in week 6 of training for the Baltimore Marathon.  Despite the fact that my mind knows that, I haven’t felt motivated to run since the race on Sunday.  I’ve skipped not one, but two training runs already.  Being lazy just sounded like a better idea.

This morning, I dragged my ass out of bed and ran for 30 minutes, did a whole slew of lunges, and ran home.

It wasn’t fast, and it wasn’t perfect or even great…but I did it, and I feel like I’m back on track.  I came to work this morning feeling refreshed and prepared.  My running life was back on point.

As I slurped my green smoothie, I opened my email to see this:

I really didn’t want to look at them.  I was feeling too good this morning to become mentally derailed again.  But, I looked anyway.  I’m kind of a sucker for punishment.

I loved them.

I smiled when I saw the guy next to me in the red shirt.   We were chatting for about 1/2 mile just before this was taken.  We were motivating each other to finish a never-ending hill that went UP from mile 6-7, down for mile 7-8, then a slow, steady incline from miles 8-9.  It was that sneaky little hill from 8-9 that killed me.

The agony of that hill was almost over by this point.  My face was approaching a normal color.

I could just see the finish line from here!

I laughed when I saw at this picture.  I was approaching the finish line, happy to be going downhill after 3 miles of hills, happy to be almost finished.  I was cheesing for the entire last 3/10 mile.  When I saw this picture, I also remembered how proud of myself I was at that very moment.

Finished!

I got all teary and sentimental when I looked at these pictures.  But, not for one second did I think that I looked like a hippo.  That was refreshing after Tuesday’s doubt-fest.

What a difference a day and a run can make.

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