Just.keep.going.

Wednesday, was a wonderfully active work day.

During lunch hour, I trotted over to Parliament hill along with 1000 of my "other friends" to take a yoga class on the hill.  Every Wednesday from 12-1 in the spring/summer, Lululemon Rideau Centre gets yoga instructors from across the city to come and lead anyone interested in a wonderfully refreshing yoga class on the grass of Parliament Hill. This past Wednesday was my first time actually going and it was well worth it. One of the owners of Moksha Yoga in Orleans was leading us in a wonderfully paced hour of stretching, balancing, breathing and relaxing. It was a perfect way to split up my work week and will certainly become a mainstay in my exercise plan for the rest of the summer.

I also had plans to run in the evening. Although my running date fell through, I still forced myself to get out the door by making sure all my work out clothes were on and I was ready to go as soon as Madie's little head hit her beloved pillow. I went out knowing the running room gang was finishing up their hill repeats tonight and that I didn't want to risk aggravating my hamstring before my "big run" this Sunday.

I went out planning on doing the same 4.5k loop I did last week - a relatively even run that isn't very "challenging" but still gets me out the door. But at the last minute, I decided to change my route and head down towards the lower road where I knew in order to get back home, I would need to climb up as well.

As soon as I started the run, I felt "off". My legs were not exactly "sore", but they didn't feel right. Everything felt heavy and I began second guessing my ability to run at all.

After having a day to reflect on it, I know think this coincides with the afternoon yoga, which had done wonders to lengthen my tight muscles. I don't think I am USED TO running with muscles that are loose and subtle...
Is that a thing????

Anyways, I questioned my run so often in those first 2 km that I lost count. But I got it done, pushing the negative talk to the back of my mind and after a while, I started to "feel" the run. I felt good, having fallen into a stride I was comfortable in and didn't want to stop.

I kept thinking of ways to make the run longer instead of thinking up ways to shorten the run and found myself passing the roads which I would normally take up and back towards my neighbourhood. I found out that even though there may not be a sidewalk along the road you drive on (the Lower Aylmer Road), there IS a pathway just north of that road that brings you through a nice little park and safely onto Vanier which has the sidewalk the whole way up.

I took that road up a long gradual 2k increase, past my son's school where I allowed myself a quick 15 second walk break from the "hill". Then off I continued. At one point, I actually yelled out "go!" - knowing that if anyone was outside and heard, they would only think I was saying it to my dog, who was running with me, even though it was really me yelling at me to not stop.

Once I got back to my neighbourhood, it was getting dark and I had been out for just over 33 minutes. I knew I needed to head home, but because my route was somewhat exploratory, I had no idea what distance I had run. I did know that 1/3rd was downhill, and 1/3 was uphill, with the rest being a relatively flat in between.

After getting home and mapping out the route, I realised I had run around 4.5k in all.

But you know, although I am happy about the distance / time, I am more happy PROUD that I kept going through all the self doubt talk of those first 10 minutes.

And I go into today's run with some new knowledge about how long it takes me to find my groove (AND a new route to use too!) :)