No Pain, No Gain!

Some people say that after a while a mother can come to forget the pain experienced during child birth. She doesn't remember the hours of excruciating pressure and pushing, the screaming, and the sweating involved with pushing out a baby (there's no soft way of saying that, sorry). What remains are the thoughts of the beautiful baby and how much you love it and all the lovely things that are involved with babies.

I think I'm experiencing the exact same thing with running.

On Sunday I managed to give birth to a 30k race. And it hurt. Not "I-pushed-a-human-being-out-of-me" hurt, but it hurt (I managed to develop blisters on each of my toes from drenched shocks and the friction caused from them rubbing on my shoes each step I took). At kilometer 23 I wondered what had possessed me to do this. By the 26th K (just around Valley In Road [Heart Attack Hill] ), my legs had had it. When all was said and done, I stretched my body like I've never done it before, and it was awesome, but man! was I tired!!

Monday comes and goes, and I'm still feeling a pretty drained. And sad.... I really do feel a bit depressed that the race is now over. All that training, all that work... and now it's over. I feel a little empty, to be honest.

Tuesday... and I'm feeling physically amazing! No aches, no more sore muscles, blisters all gone! And suddenly, I have forgotten the pain of Sunday. I have a thought..... "Hmmm.... that wasn't so bad. *Light Bulb*! I'M GOING TO DO A MARATHON!" Yes, yes I am!

They say if you are going to quit running, it could be the hardest thing you will ever do. Running is addictive, and giving up an addiction is a challenge. If you are going to quit running, you have to quit running every single day. I am too weak to quit running, so intsead I will give into it, let it possess me, and make me stronger (both physially and mentally)

I am SO glad I am a runner!