Race #2 Tomorrow

Tomorrow I'm running in the Santa Monica/Venice Christmas Run with my friend Cyrena. I'm excited to run another race. I have two goals this time around- to run the whole thing and to beat my time from my first 5k. I haven't run three miles in I don't know how long. The cool thing is that during my last race, the most I had ever run leading up to that for my training was a mile. This time around, I know I can run two miles, and I've done that about four or five times now. And I'm scheduled to run my first three mile run tomorrow according to the training schedule that Hal put together for me. So...I'm hopeful!

The biggest thing I'm annoyed with right now is that I procrastinated so much on getting a new sports bra that when I went to Lucy today to get one, they kindly informed me they're not selling them in their stores anymore because they "didn't do anything for them." It's frustrating because I really needed/wanted to get one before this race. I feel like one of the biggest challenges I have with my running is that my sports bra feels like it's cutting off my breathing. I feel like endurance wise I could keep going, my legs aren't tired or anything like that, it's just that I almost feel like I'm gasping for air. Anyone out there reading this, is this normal? Do YOU think it's because of my sports bra or what? I try to consciously work on my breathing, so I really don't think it's because I don't know how to breathe. Which is why I really thought I needed a new sportsbra. The other reason it's frustrating that Lucy decided not to carry bras in their stores anymore is because I obviously need to try it on to see if it's going to work for me or not. So now I have to go ahead and place the order online and see if I'm lucky.

I know I know, if this is my biggest problem in life, I'm in good shape and really have no reason to complain. I'm just saying, I'm annoyed.

In good news though, besides the fact that I'm running in another race tomorrow, I ran a mile last night and I think it was the fastest mile I've ran since I started training. 11:54. I'll take what I can get people. I'm fighting the urge right now to be hard on myself for how long it takes me to run a mile, but I'm not giving in. It takes time. I'm getting out there and putting in the distance. I have to go easy on myself.

This is a long process.

I'll report back tomorrow after the race!

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Slacker...?

I started to feel a bit like I was slacking this week. I missed a workout, which is the first time that has happened since I started training over a month ago. Hey, missing only one workout in over a month really isn't that bad. When I think about it in those terms, I feel much better about it.

But, I also was feeling very unmotivated to get out for a run today. Luckily my friend Jigga called to say she was staying at the Loews hotel here in Santa Monica. So it was perfect, I decided I'd walk to the end of Montana and then get my one mile run in by running along Ocean Blvd. It was just the motivation I needed.

The run itself was mostly great...just the persistent sports bra problem I've been talking about where I feel like it's preventing me from breathing properly. Otherwise, it was a good run. I saw two other women running in front of me and I did my best to try and stay with them. It was good to keep me going and to try and pick up and keep a steady pace. And it obviously worked since I had my best one mile time since I started training. Which felt like progress.

So the moral of my post is I missed one run. I've missed just one run since I started training on November 1st. And I'm okay with that.

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