Tuesday, April 22, 2014

My Personal Cheerleader

Happy Earth Day!  It is truly a beautiful morning in the PNW and we just had to get out and enjoy it! 

Since this may be the last sun we get for several days Sky and I headed out for a run.  It had been almost a week since my last run and I was so ready to get out and stretch my legs!  I needed the break though.  I now feel ready to run, ready for the next few races, and ready for the next training cycle to start!  All the inspiration from Boston yesterday helped as well!  

Snacks, sunglasses, books, Daisy Duck...Sky is ready for a run! 
 
It's been a long, long time since I ran with Sky on our own.  The Stroller Group runs are always a pretty easy pace (that doesn't mean they feel easy though), but when it's just the two of us I like to push the pace.  I figure if I can get within 20 to 30 seconds of race pace while pushing the stroller then race day will feel super easy.

It felt hard, I haven't put effort into a sub 10 with the stroller in a long time, but I did it.  Average was 9:32 (or close to it, I forget exactly).  That's pretty decent.  I noticed it felt way harder after this last training cycle than it felt back before Whidbey.  But that was months ago and I know Sky has grown since then, it's just going to keep getting harder and harder the bigger she gets.

 She loves the reverse camera option on my phone!

Thankfully Sky is the best cheerleader ever!  She's usually pretty quiet in the stroller, but today she wanted the the sun shade and screen left open and she was yelling her head off. 

All I heard the whole 3 miles:
"Faster mommy, faster"
"Come on Mommy you can do it"
"Bump, be careful, don't hurt me"
"Watch where you're going"
"Don't hurt yourself"
...and the best part was when I hit the one short yet steep hill "Go mommy, go, you can do it", and as soon as we got to the top, "Mommy you did it, good job"! 

Every time she told me to go faster I let her know I was already going as fast as I could and her response every single time was "No!  You go faster".  Seriously better than any running coach!

After that it was time to play and let Sky run around the soccer field.  I offered to drive down to the playground, but she said no.  She really just wanted to run around the fields.

 Loves the breeze on her face!

 Reading the Cherry Tree sign to herself.  This picture doesn't even come close to showing off the pink and white dogwood trees.  So pretty!

 You can see Sky in the upper left of the pic, the white smudge between the two trees.  We were the only ones on the soccer fields and she loves seeing how far she can get from me before I run after her.  

I was feeling kinda blah/irritated this morning, no reason really, couldn't put my finger on it.  Figured a run in the sun would fix it, and I did feel better.  But, the tipping point was the labyrinth.  Just being calm, following a path that's already there, and not having to think about anything calmed my heart and cleared my mind.  

Lovely way to start the day and get myself back on track.  Looking forward to whatever the rest of the day brings!  

--------------------------
Who watched the Boston coverage yesterday?
It's why I didn't post yesterday, all I did really was watch the marathon coverage and track my friends who were running, and that makes for a boring ass blog post!  BTW - Amy finished and beat her time from last year!  

How do you reset your mind/attitude when you need an adjustment?
Aside from running I also like a glass of wine and my book, even for just 20 minutes.  Always makes me feel better. 

No comments: