Runners High

Well, I did it-I ran 10 miles yesterday. I've only done that once before in my life and it was 3 years ago during the half marathon I did. (yes, before that race, the longest I ran was 7 miles-and I only did 7 once) I feel really good about my accomplishment even though it's hard to get too excited about it, because my husband runs 10 miles all the time, so even though it was hard for me, I still feel a little like a wannabe. I guess it's all about perception.

I have a REALLY hard time doing long runs by myself. (Running is VERY much a mental challenge for me. If I have someone to chat with, I can usually run for a long time, but if I'm by myself, it's really difficult do more than a couple miles) All my usual running partners were busy yesterday morning, so I begged Jerry to come run with me. He was happy to, but that meant bringing the boys in the stroller. Bringing them actually wasn't bad. Jerry pushes and they are pretty happy to just be outside and to people watch. The problem is that you can't exactly wake up two babies at 5:30 in the morning to take them running. (ok, you can, but that just isn't something I'm willing to do. Seriously, why would anyone EVER wake up a child unless it was a really special circumstance or an emergency? I spend WAY too much time and energy trying to get them to sleep!! And anyway, their schedules would have been off for days if I had woken them up early) So anyway, by the time they got up and we got them fed and dressed and we drove down to the trail system we were going to run on, it was 9:15 am and 75 degrees by the time we started our run. Luckily a lot of the trail was shady and it wasn't too miserable. It ended up being a nice Saturday morning together as a family.

The best part was after we got home, both my boys took really good naps and they did it at the same time, which almost never happens. Which means that I got a nap too! It was glorious! The last nap I had was in July and the last one before that was in March. (Yes, I can remember the exact dates because it just never happens) The whole rest of the day I just felt really really good. For no apparent reason. I guess it must have been a runners high, but when I've felt that in the past it's only been for maybe a couple hours after a run, not the whole day. I didn't just feel good. I felt really good. Like giddy. I try to be a pretty happy person, but a lot of days it really has to be something I choose. I try to choose to be happy everyday. But yesterday I didn't have to choose. I just was.