Confidence Boosting Run

So my running has recently been one of 2 things:  non-existent or a total struggle.  I have been a little worried about this with my race being a week away. 

When I ran in the Baltimore marathon relay, I did 7 miles and felt great.  I was so inspired by the people around me and the overall race atmosphere.  But the running I've been doing on my own has been a mental battle.  I can't seem to figure out what is going on.

Daryl and I had originally planned to meet for a short ride on Sunday morning.  Short was meaning in the range of 30 miles.  However, the weather was really cold...too cold for riding in the early morning hours.  So we bagged the ride.

Sunday afternoon turned out to be really beautiful.  I decided to lace up my running shoes and have a really good run.  I went into it thinking that this was going to be a good run. 

The first mile was a challenge.  My ankles took turns hurting.  My knees were aching.  My shoulder felt funny.  Ugh...here we go again.

After my watch chimed at the one mile mark, I decided just to enjoy the day.  Who cares about the run anyway...I'm out here doing it...I might as well enjoy it.  My run route took me up a long hill.  When I got to the top, I looked to my right and saw a beautiful landscape.  The trees were so colorful and stretched out as far as I could see.  It was pretty.  The air was crisp and the breeze was light - perfect running weather.

I stopped thinking about my run.  I stopped thinking about my pace.  I just ran.  And it was great.  Oddly enough, all those aches and pains went away. 

After 3 miles I decided to try out a run/walk because I'm seriously considering a run/walk strategy for the race.  I ran for 5 minutes and walked for 30 seconds.  I did this for the remaining 2 miles of my run.  It was hard to walk at first because I didn't feel like I "needed" to walk.  But the last mile of my run is all uphill.  Halfway up the long hill, I was looking forward to my 30 second walk break.

This was exactly the run that I was needing.  My head is now in a good place.  My confidence is back.  I can complete this race!  6 days to go.