Ramping up!

This week will be my highest mileage week since October. Should tally in right at 40 miles. Hard to believe.

Sometimes I think I'm insane about running. I plan my run for the next day, eat my dinner so it won't affect my run, get up early and run in the cold, come back, refuel, think about my run, wash my clothes and decide when/where I'm going to run tomorrow. Maybe I have a problem. Or maybe, just maybe, I have discovered one of the real truths about why I love running and fitness. It is the ONE thing, the only thing happening right now (besides my marriage) that I enjoy. It is the only thing that I am doing that I am actually happy doing. It is no secret that I'm burned out at my job. I'm paying off a lot of debts. My family is all far away. My husband and I work opposite shifts and don't get much time off together.

So, I run. I run to get out the stress. I run to feel better. Sometimes I laugh and smile when I run and sometimes I cry. Sometimes I listen to music and sometimes I run in silence to clear my head. I run in rain, heat and in snow. I run uphill, downhill, on the road or in the woods. I run when I feel good and when I feel like crap. I run when I have the energy for it and I run when I don't. Bottom line is - I run because I have to. Because I need to. Because without it I am certain I would be certifiably crazy. I run because running reminds me that I am stronger than I ever thought possible and that my dreams are in fact attainable even when they seem impossible.

So on days like today, when I had to draaaaaaaaaaag myself out of bed and hit the park for 7 miles before breakfast, I reminded myself of this over and over again, and it was all worth it! SO glad I went!