Sometimes It's Just Hard

I had to go to Rochester for work today, which meant I had to leave earlier than I normally do. I was initially supposed to meet a friend for dinner after work, but she cancelled. So, I spent all day thinking that I would get some sort of workout in before dinner. At some point my husband and I decided that we'd do the second day of C25K and I figured I'd stretch it to a full 5K when we were done with his part. Middle daughter decided that she'd join us, too. I spent all afternoon knowing this was the plan and feeling good about it...until I got in the car for my drive home.

The weather in WNY yesterday was ridiculous. Really. I'm not someone who complains about snow and late spring and all of that, but seriously, I think Mother Nature is having some issues. I drove through beautiful sunshine and near white-out conditions within minutes of each other. It was freezing. I'd need my sunglasses and then would almost have to rip them off because it suddenly got too dark. By the time I got home, running was the last thing I wanted to do. But, I rallied and got ready.

My husband has a hard time breathing in the cold, so I was definitely worried about how he'd do. I typically do better in the cold than I ever do in heat, so I thought I'd be fine. I set my Garmin (I really love that watch!), husband set his 5K app and off we went.

The first couple of runs were fine. Cold, but fine. After that, I could tell my husband was struggling. He kept asking our daughter for water and we were definitely slow. (I'm pretty sure our daughter could have lapped us. I was going slow for my husband, but wouldn't have been able to catch her even at full speed.) I began struggling at some point in the middle and was dreading the remainder of my run. I figured I had to get it in, though, and told them I was going to keep going after our final run (while they cooled down). Now remember, I finished the 5K last Friday when we ran, so I knew this shouldn't be a problem. Last night was different, though, and I was DYING. Like, I was pretty sure my legs were made of stone and my lungs were about to collapse. I forced myself to get to two miles. (I'd say we did not quite 1.5 miles with the app, so I didn't add much more.) That run was one of the hardest I've ever done.

I was surprised to see my splits at the end. The first mile, done with my husband, was 15:02. Then, sometime during the second mile I left on my own. I kind of figured I maybe did it in 13. Nope! I did it in 12:05. I made up some pretty good time there, which may have contributed to how hard it was. (The cold and going faster than normal for me.)

My point to this very long, rambling post is that sometimes it's just freakin' hard. But, we have to keep going...right? Maybe tonight should just be pilates or something a little less intense - definitely something inside, though. I'm sure that my next run will be better. It kind of has to be, really.