Running therapy

There is a great onemoremile slogan: "Running is cheaper than therapy." It is ranked as one of the top contenders for the shirt I will buy myself for completing the half marathon in April (because apparently, the only time I can purchase from them is after completing races... I think I need to rethink this plan!).

However, I'm beginning to wonder whether running is therapy for me, or if I've just turned Tiffany into my counselor. Probably a combination of both.

During the last half mile of our Saturday run, we were giving ourselves a pep talk about all we accomplished this past year. Neither of us thought we'd ever be marathoners. We shared stories of how excited we were after our first 5ks (again), and I voiced aloud how with my first 5k, half marathon and marathon, I felt I had something to prove. I thought others on the course were thinking "what is SHE doing here? Like she can run this distance..." And of course, no one else was worried about me. *I* was the one who doubted. And I'm good at continuing the doubt "what if I can't do it again? what if I have completely forgotten how to run?"

And while there have been plenty of days when it felt my legs didn't remember, I keep being able to pound out the miles.

They say running is mostly mental. Seems that the phrase has two meanings. It not only takes building of mental strength, but it changes you mentally, too. I'm not sure whether it is the endorphins, the thrill of accomplishing something I never thought possible or simply time to process... but I like it.

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In health/fitness notes, I lost 1 pound this week. Yay! I like when the scale moves in the downward direction. I took my fitness test at Wilson's this morning and scored Excellent in core strength (crunches), Good in Strength (sitting bench press), Average in Fitness (heart rate recovery after step test) and Below Average in Flexibility. Not sure what was up with my heart rate. It was at 116 when she checked it after I sat down. Have to say I was disappointed in that "average" fitness assessment. Guess I need to train for an ultramarathon instead!