I can do hard things. At the tail end of mile one of a four-mile run this morning, the thought came to me. At the same time, a strong whiff of decaying turkey vulture carcass hit my nostrils, but on the next breath, it was replaced by the sweet wisteria scent. Often when I run, and I smell, I think of how to describe it—the scent of whatever pungent yuck is out there, something similar to scotch broom. The pine needles. My sniffer is like a dog’s wet nose out the window out there.
Two times on long runs, I’ve unlocked a hard-to-easy mode—like when I want to give up, then tell myself I can do it, then do—someone I know has appeared. It was the mail lady and her thumbs up to me one day, and a carload of Lainee and her kids saying hi to me.
It’s serendipitous, and it feels like magic.
I’m going to need lots of magic as I keep upping the mileage. Right now, my chest tightens, and my eyes grow dark at the thought of longer runs. Truly, I can do them; however, something in me says I can’t. While pondering this earlier, I stumbled upon memories from 2018’s half-marathon training. Unlike now, when I obsess over and strategize rest, strength training, posture, and running research, back then, I just ran. I ran through a horrific pain in my hip that never recovered, even as I hobbled my way through that 13.1-mile race.
I wonder if my body is having flashbacks. That instead of tuning in and modifying like I am now, I kicked myself then and just kept kicking harder.
Speaking of tuning in, my right hip joint was sore today. I have yet to use an exercise band and target that area. It’s wonderful how well that strategy has worked so far. An area in pain? Work it through resistance exercises and strength training. Thus far, in the past five months of training, I have not been injured. Pain? Oh yeah, I’ve had pain. Thankfully, I was reading a book by an experienced runner early on, and his body’s pain shifted and changed—it was normal and something he worked with.
I’m glad not to fear it. So tomorrow, I’m thinking of a quick two-miler with the exercise bands I mentioned. And that will be that. My real goal is to rest, relax, and replenish my mental stores.
Sounds like a plan! Night, night.
Love, Jaclynn