Why is it SOOOO Hard to get Motivated?

I consider myself a runner.  By no means am I a fast runner, I am still trying to figure out the best strategy to get faster, but I enjoy it once I actually get out there!

I have just been having the WORST time getting motivated!  I have been running 4-6 days a week for a few weeks now.  I am trying really hard to get into shape.  I know that this extra weight I carry slows me down.  I know that is the first strategy to getting faster, lose the pounds that aren't needed or wanted.

I have been bringing my puppy running lately.  She is a good little personal trainer.  She takes it easy and then sprints as fast as she possibly can.  Since I don't want to look like I am slower than a puppy, I sprint as fast as I can to keep up.  I know it is good to sprint, I just have never really been a sprinter.  I had never really be a runner, until 2009.  I wanted to lose weight and running seemed like the most plausible way. 

I need to figure out ways to motivate myself to look forward to lacing up the shoes, instead of dreading the moment that I am going to lace up the shoes.  I used to look forward to every run.  I would even get upset when I couldn't run.  I look forward to when that day comes again when I want to run, not when I feel like I need to run. 

My Running Partner

My running partner is three months old, she will be 14 weeks tomorrow.  She was born on August 1, 2013.  She is around five or six pounds now, I think.  I need to weigh her.  She started running with me about four weeks ago.  I didn't know how well she would do at the time.  The day before we started running together, we had gone on a walk as a family and brought her.  She did really well then.  I decided that we would test out running.

We started out with two miles.  She did very well considering she was only 10 weeks old.  I figured I should get her started early.  Her name is Hazel.  Here is a picture of Hazel and I before a run on October 30, 2013. 

It is kind of hard to imagine that such a little girl can run so far.  Her legs might be five inches long.  We do about a twelve minute mile together.  She is funny, I think of her as my personal trainer.  She will go pretty slow for awhile and then sprint like crazy for a couple minutes.  Sprinting has never really been my thing, but I figure that she is so little, and if she can do it, I can too.  I think that as we run together, we will get faster together.  As she gets older, she will be a really good runner.

This little girl is part Shih-tzu and part Mini Pinscher.  She has a lot of energy.  Yesterday was the first day we did three miles together.  I think she innately knows when she has gone two miles though.  She wanted to start walking at the two mile mark.  We walked for a little while until she figured out that we weren't done, then she decided we might as well run again.  When we are running on the trail, she knows exactly where we need to turn to head back to the vehicle. 

I need to run on the trail with her, otherwise, we encounter a lot of young children.  Children, by nature, want to pet a puppy.  My puppy, by nature, wants to be petted.  It makes for a very challenging run.  I don't want to not let children pet her, but I do want to get my run in. 

We have started running almost daily.  Today was a two mile run.  I don't want to over exert her.  I know she is still little.  The older she gets I think she will be able to go further.  For now, I think we will keep it between two and four miles when we run together. 

My children have also started to want to go on walks and runs more since we got Hazel.  I think they enjoy walking/running with her.  She enjoys being out there.  My mother-in-law made a sweater for her, because she is short-haired and gets cold easily.  She has been needing to run in the sweater because it has gotten colder around here. 

Hazel in her sweater

Running with a Puppy

We got a puppy on September 14.  She was six weeks old.  She was a tiny thing.  She will always be quite small.  Her name is Hazel.  She is a min pin/shih-tzu mix, making her a Pin-tzu.  We didn't know how she would ever do with running.  Her legs are about 4 inches long.  About 1 1/2 weeks ago, we put her on her leash and brought her on a walk.  She ran a lot of the way.  We knew then that she may just be a runner.

I brought her running for the first time on Saturday.  We ran two miles.  She whined a bit, but she kept up.  Tonight I brought her running again.  She ran 2 1/2 miles.  She didn't whine, she just ran.  We got on the trail and she seemed to really enjoy that.  We were just going to do laps around the park, until a lot of kids came out of the school.  They all wanted to play with her and she wanted to play with them, which makes it difficult to run.  It was then that I decided I should jump on the trail.

Once I was on the trail, there were a few other people.  One man got a good laugh out of her and I running.  She is such a small thing.  I think that this is the time to get her used to running.  The funny thing is, I worry about a predator bird coming down and trying to take her.  Of course, I have her on a leash.  I think I have blogged enough times that it should be a given that I don't like when I see dogs off their leash.  I wouldn't think that someone would like to see mine off her leash, even though she it small.

We ran about a 12 minute mile.  I think that is a good pace for a little one.  She will only get better.  She likes to sprint every so often, so it like I am getting in my fartlek training.

My children love to go on walks/runs with her.  They look forward to it now.  Even (especially) my oldest daughter.  She used to not be really excited about going out and walking/running, but she is now.  It is amazing how a puppy can change your life!

Each Little Step

Do you ever have those days when you wake up and just wish that you could super glue yourself to the bed, just to have a good reason not to get out of the bed?!  I have been having many of those days.  I am not sure if it is because the weather has been getting so much colder or if I am just THAT depressed. 

Those days are the days that each little steps matters.  I know on these days that I can't expect myself to go on a run.  I am pleased with just taking steps.  They don't even have to be big steps.  Baby steps will work on these days.

I just need to remember that before it gets dark!  I don't like being out there in the dark.  I got bit by a dog in the dark.  That wasn't fun!  I prefer that over other things that happen to people in the dark though. 

When Did Two Miles...?

When did two miles get so hard?!  I decided that I should lace up my running shoes last Saturday, so I did.  My toddler has been sick for a little while so I hadn't run in a while.  I decided I would get started easy.  I would do two miles. 

I have been doing a lot of reading about running.  I guess I thought that was a good replacement while I was not running.  I read that you should run really hard every so often.  I decided the two mile run would be a good time to put a lot of energy into it.  I didn't time myself, but what I can say is that I left almost everything I had in that two mile run.  It felt good when I got home, sweat pouring down my face.  I love to sweat.  I feel like I am actually accomplishing something when I sweat.

I need to find another race.  I need to get myself signed up and get going.  It is the only thing that makes me think I absolutely have to get out there and run.  I don't like to waste my money.

My toddler still isn't feeling too well and I am started to think she might have shared.  We shall see! 

Suggestion From a Friend

I was telling a friend of mine recently that I had not really been out running since my half marathon.  I have run 2 5Ks, but that was all I have run, except for when I have to run to make sure my children get to school on time because we left late for one reason or another.

I told him that I am still a bit bummed about the time I finished in for my half marathon.  In a million years, I would have not expected to finish in over three hours.  It took me 30 minutes longer than I had finished my previous half marathon in.  Yes, it was incredibly hot that day, but I had put in the time I had to in order to train.  I still can't figure out where, exactly, I went wrong.

I contemplated, long and hard, about hanging up my running shoes and giving up.  It even seemed like a plausible idea.  What was I, at age 39 and overweight, thinking trying to run a half marathon, or even run at all?!?  I am the mother of four children, aged 10 to 1, she will be 2 very soon.  I know I will never be at the head of the pack.  I know exactly what I am thinking now.  I just want to be in shape.  I want to try to insure that I will live long enough to see my children graduate, get married, and have children. 

Those moments of discouragement seem to make a lot of sense when I am going through them!  But when I start talking about it to my family and friends, it really doesn't seem to make any sense at all.  Yes, I will never run a half marathon again in slower than 3 hours, if I never run again.   I would never have to train in the heat of the summer or the freezing cold of the winter, if I never run again.  To be honest, I need to run.  It is my time.  It is the time I get to figure out all life's questions and problems that might be going on. 

My friend told me, just go out and run.  Don't time it, just run.  Don't worry about how long it takes.  It is advice I took tonight.  I have decided to start training for another race.  I am not sure yet if I will do another half marathon around Halloween or if I will do the 5 mile race.  I am kind of leaning toward 5 miles.  I think that I should work on losing some of this weight that I have gained.  I am thinking that it is medicine induced weight because there isn't much of any other reason why it is here. 

I ran 2 miles tonight.  I didn't look at the time.  I just ran.  I don't know how many minutes.  I think this is how I am going to train for the next race.  Not worrying about the time.  Just me, my running shoes and the pavement.  It is nice to disconnect from technology, even if it is just disconnecting from the stopwatch. 

I look forward to my next run.  It is supposed to be 3 miles on Wednesday.  Hopefully I can do it then!

Running Off and On

Since my half-marathon on August 31, 2013, I have done two 5K's and that is almost the extent of my running.  I have run a little with my children to and from school.  It isn't very easy though since I need to bring an umbrella stroller for my youngest daughter.  The jogger gets goat heads (they are a very painful, sharp pricker around here) in the tires and makes them go flat en route to the school.  The umbrella stroller just has some kind of tire that doesn't go flat.

My children and husband at benefit 5K 9-6-2013

My van broke down last weekend and we are deciding if we are going to get it fixed or not.  We had decided we would, now we are not so sure.  Anyway, I get to walk back and forth to school twice a day now.  It is keeping my step count up there pretty high, which is good!

My children, my husband and I have done the last two 5K's as a family.  Well, we start together, we don't end together.  My daughter isn't a great fan of running, she has exercise-induced asthma so we need to try to keep that in check.    I ended up run/walking the first 5K with her. My husband and two sons went on ahead and finished 10-13 minutes ahead of us.  I think it is important, and fun, that we do exercise together.  I know it motivates me to keep going.

My children and I at benefit 5K 9-6-13

I am going to be signing up for a half-marathon that will happen around Halloween.  I need to start running more regularly again.  I just need to get my registration paid and then there is no turning back!