Today’s another 3 mile day.

I’m not gonna lie: I’m a little scared. My legs are still sore from Sunday and after not finishing my intervals yesterday, I’m worried.

But I’m also confident. I can do this…

Right?

Britt to 6 Day: Day 2

Clever name, huh?

After being unable to find a program that I liked, I created my own that was designed to get me running six days a week based on my current activity level.

This week’s schedule is as follows:

Sunday: 3 Mile Run
Monday: 10 Minute Run/1 Minute Walk x4
Tuesday: 3 Mile Run
Wednesday: 10 Minute Run/1 Minute Walk x4
Thursday: 3 Mile Run
Friday: 10 Minute Run/1 Minute Walk x4
Saturday: Rest

For awhile, I was running three days a week. A couple of times, I bumped it up to 4-5 days, but it didn’t last very long. This time, I want this to work.

My run today wasn’t good. I didn’t finish the whole set, but being that I’m just moving into trying to run every day, I’m not expecting miracles. The point is this: I may not have set the world on fire, but some running is better than none.

The Elusive 3 Mile Mark

For weeks, I’ve struggled with even making it to 2.5 miles. Some days, I’d be right on the verge of hitting it and some days, it was a struggle to even make it to the 2 mile mark.

Yesterday, I had my ass proverbially handed to me and told that there’s no reason why I haven’t hit 3 miles; that it wasn’t because I couldn’t do it, I just didn’t want to push myself to do it.

And they were right.

The One Hour Runner is a great program, but it’s not for me. I was so focused on the time, that I would stop, no matter how close or far I was from three miles. Yesterday, I removed the time restraint and…

I did it. I ran three miles in 38:11 minutes.

Some days, running is hard. Others are a little more tolerable. Yesterday? Yesterday was amazing.

I can’t wait to do it again.

I’m looking for a new program.

The one hour runner isn’t working for me quite like the Couch to 5K. I’m getting discouraged and that’s the last thing I want.

Any runners out there want to recommend a good beginner training program? I want to build up to running at least 3 miles comfortably, and then I’d like to move to 5.

One Hour Runner: Days 13 and 14

I’m afraid I’m losing my motivation. I’m getting discouraged and frustrated. But I’m not going to stop. I refuse to stop.

I need to refocus and remind myself why I’m doing this. I need to get it in my head that in order to made things better for myself, I have to run. I will run. I am running.

Day 13 was awful. After a brutal 35 minute run last week, Monday’s run went back to 30 minutes and I couldn’t finish. I had an awful pain in my side and I just could not go on any more. So I gave up.

My next run was supposed to be yesterday, but I didn’t do it. I excused myself by saying I was really tired, having just come off the midnight shift, and even as I said it, I knew it was bullshit. But I didn’t care.

So today? Despite the fact that it was 83 degrees and I was really tired, I went. And boy was it hard. Today was a 32 minute run and every single second of it hurt. Even now as I’m sitting in a cool room typing this, my hands are shaking and I’m beginning to get a headache, but I did. All of it.

And the entire time, I reminded myself why I was doing it. It didn’t make me go any faster and I didn’t even hit 2.5 miles, but I did it. I didn’t stop.

And that’s what’s important.

One Hour Runner: Days 11 and 12

While I have turned into bit of a slacker over the last couple of weeks, I’m trying to get back on track. My last running day was on Wednesday, and even though I wasn’t able to blog about it, I *did* do it, I swear.

Day 11 was the turning point in this running program: the day I run a time that wasn’t 30 minutes. To prepare for the 35 minute run that was to come on Day 12, they dropped it back to 29 minutes for 11.

I’m still trying to find a good route to run over at my grandma’s house and Day 11′s route was definitely not it. One word for you: sidewalks.

Up until this point, I’d managed to avoid them like the plague, but on Day 11, that’s all I ran on. My knees hurt so bad when I finished, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to walk home.

Today (Day 12), I opted for yet another route. Today was my 35 minute run and though I’ve proclaimed my intense dislike of running at a time that’s not early morning or late evening, I knew if I put it off, it wouldn’t get done.

The first twenty minutes of the run were really no different than all the other runs that I’ve done, but those last fifteen were killer. By the time I got home, I literally wanted to fall over and die and despite that it wasn’t even the hottest part of the day, I’m completely drenched in sweat.

I found out though that I’m running a steady 13 minute mile pace. That’s been the pace for the last couple and though it’s not acceptable, I’m kind of glad that I’ve finally found a steady pace and I’m not jumping back and forth. Right now, I’m going to focus on maintaining that and after I finish this program I’ll work on increasing my speed.

Today should have been a running day.

For whatever reason, this shift has been killing me. Evenings are usually my favorite, but I guess the whole move wore me out more than I thought because I just feel like I can’t get caught up on my sleep. Today, I slept in until 11. It was supposed to be a running day, but it was just so hot and being that I can’t run in the evening, because of work, I decided to forgo the running.

That does not mean I didn’t get my exercise for the day in. My mom and I rode our bikes 5.75 miles today. I think this is going to be my off day exercising because really, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

One Hour Runner: Day 10

First of all… It’s important to note that the move is finished. Can I get a Hell Yeah on that one? I can’t even begin to tell you how relieved I am on that one because it’s been messing with my running routine like crazy so hopefully, now that it’s over, I can get back to where I used to be.

A new house means a new route and to be completely honest, I kind of hated it. Don’t get me wrong… it’s a nice area to run in and it was wonderful to be able to run on the bridge, but it just felt weird. I guess after a few runs, I’ll get to the point where it’s no big deal, kind of like my other route.

I was slower today than I have been in awhile but I’m going to blame that one on a toe injury that I got on Thursday. It’s a lame excuse, but it works, right?

One Hour Runner: Day 9

Today was another hard one. Technically, I should have done this run yesterday, but I ended up calling out from work because of a bad headache in the morning and I really just didn’t have it in me to go run yesterday afternoon. Plus, that would have looked a little suspicious. Too sick to go to work, but perfectly capable of running in the afternoon? Yeah, I think not.

I did my whole 30 minutes today, and made it 2.45 miles. I’m a little annoyed with the fact that I’ve yet to hit 3 miles, but I’m determined to do it so I guess I’ll just have to keep running until I make it.

I was so so so tempted to stop at 26 minutes, but again, I knew I had to keep going, so I did. My knee was twinging a little bit when I finally called it quits so I’m thinking I may need to look into a brace for when I run.

Anyway, not my best day, but I did it. Another week down.

Running keeps me sane.

I figured that out yesterday. I mean, I kind of had a general idea after the crappy week that I had, but yesterday, I put the theory to the test.

As stated in a previous blog post, there are a lot of things going on in my life that I don’t like right now, but at this moment, I’m not in the position to change them. But I will tell you this: Every mile I run, every second I push through the pain and keep going is bringing me closer and closer to getting out of this shit hole and making things better for myself.

I did a mile and a half yesterday in 15:46. Slower than the other day, but I’m determined to get into the 13 minute range. It’s hard, and most of the time, it hurts, but it gives me a different kind of pain to focus on and makes it easier to get through the hard moments.