Week ThReE

I was worried about blogging too much, but there went another week...Came and Gone and it's officially the Holiday Season!!!!! I have so much to be grateful for, one being that I got to eat Thanksgiving Dinner at my Grand mom's. It was amazing, thanks Aunt D :)

FUNDRAISING!!! Holy Moly can we talk about how great everyone has been with their donations?!! My dad and Aunt D made paper hearts to sell for $1 and hang around the VFW and from the picture my mom sent, it looks like that is going well. What a great idea!! Thanks guys :) The planning for the January 16 Benefit is underway and the tickets and fliers are here!!! I have tickets on me, so stop me if you want one. Oh and anyone who has donated already will get a ticket for the event. It's going to be a lot of fun!

TOTAL $$$ as of now: $564!!! I have a donation still to log, from the patients here at the hospital, which is why the total on the site right now is only $552.. And Counting...

That is great!! There is still a long way to go, but I just feel like it will come. Everyone has been so supportive, it's just awesome!

TRAINING:

Yesterday I met with the team at Valley Green. It was freezing! I didn't look at my paper before leaving the house so I wasn't sure how long the run was going to be. Valley Green is so beautiful and other than the chill, it was a great morning. I started with the ten minute group and stayed with them until the halfway point, we turned around just after the Valley Green Inn at the 2.5 mile mark. My body felt good but I wasn't able to keep up on the way back. I slowed down and was left with my thoughts. Since we were in the woods running, there were very little landmarks, at least that I remembered, to go by. I like running in the city sometimes because I always know where I am and how far I have left. My thoughts were racing and I started worrying about where the end was. Now I can run 5 miles, I know that I can, I have, I do. But the fact that I was in a group and now behind really started to play on me, negatively. I was so worried about ending the run that I wasn't enjoying it. After ten minutes, which believe me is long enough, of this negative thinking I was able to turn it around. Instead of squinting my eyes and trying to see where the road was going, yards and yards away, I looked down at the path and started thinking 'just this step.' That little thought turned into 'just this stride' which before I knew it had me smiling again.
I have been in a bunch of 5 K races, a couple 10K, a 10 miler, and a Half Marathon and there is one thing I am certain of: I never do as well as I can in the actual race. Training for things, I have mainly been alone. Just me and my headphones and I always feel great, I get the miles in, no stress. But once I am around other people, I become so worried about them and how well they are doing, I slow down. I started running a couple years ago because I want it to be something I just do for fun, not competitively. But my old thinker gets in the way when other people are around. Yesterday was a perfect example, however my mental switch helped immensely. When I finally finished (in my mind it was a huge 'FINALLY') I walked over to get some water. Another girl from the Paris group came in a few minutes after me. She said it took her 51 minutes to run 6 miles. Which means that I was done around 47 minutes or so, which is WAY better than I would have thought!!! I was happy to get home and take a nice shower and power nap :)

Last week I ran 2-3 miles 4 times, other than the Sunday run. I feel great and my mileage is still low, but growing- 16.5 miles last week, not too shabby. I went for a run this morning and the sunrise was breathtaking...I'm glad I got up to see it, before all this rain hit.

"A bend in the road is not the end of the road... unless you fail to make the turn. " ~Unknown