Thursday Fleet Feet Social Run & Thinking Ahead: 11/18

Last night I attended the Fleet Feet social run and ran with the same group of runners that I ran with the first time I attended the social run.  We did a 4 mile course with a few good hills over the last 2 miles.  It was really nice to run with them again.  However, I am not sure that I made a great running partner because I am on such a running high that I kept pushing the pace.  I stayed with the main group until about the 2.5 mile mark then broke off with another runner.  However, I was a little bit more concerned about staying at least within earshot of the main group because I didn't know the course we were running and was thankful that I did when I lost the other runner at a crossroad that was just over a hill.  He was about ten yards ahead of me when we started up the hill, but when I came over the top and dude was gone.   I continued to the intersection a little bit ahead, but do to another hill and some trees the other guy was impossible to see, and since I wasn't 100% sure I should go straight, I just jogged in place for a bit until the main group came over the rise.  Once they told me which way to go, traffic picked up, which was the sign for me to rejoin the main group for the last half mile.  It was another really great run, and the ladies that I had run with before all said that I was running a lot stronger and looked like I a had slimmed down since they saw me about a month ago.  I haven't weighed myself recently, and I really don't care to so because I feel like I have lost weight, and don't really want the scale to tell me anything different.  

Honestly, I feel better than I have in years.  I really don't think that there has been a time in my adult life where I have felt this good physically and mentally.  I know I have weighed less, but I have never been this active and excited about my prospects for good health.  I really feel like I am becoming the person that I always dreamt of being.  I know that their is still a part of me that regrets that I waited so long to make these changes, but there is an even larger part me that never thought that I would do it, which is just pleased as punch.  It is hard to believe how far I have come in such a short time.

Now that I have run my first 10k, Hiroko and I have been talking a lot about my future plans.  I have pretty much made up my mind that a half marathon is in my plans for this spring.  And if all goes well, a full in the fall.  However, I really am drawn to the 5k distance because I really like pushing my pace.  I really and truly love the feeling that I get from making that last push towards the finish line.  I know that the challenge of the longer distances on my endurance will also inspire me.  But, I know that I just enjoy legging it out, and I think that I have a lot of room to get faster.  I think that I take speed as a large sign of my personal achievement because I was always considered slow because of my weight.  The best thing about this dilemma is that it exists.  I don't really care about finding an answer at this moment because I am just happy that these are questions that are part of my life.  

Friday will be an off day because I haven't been to Umstead in a few weeks, and it is calling to me, and I am pretty sore from a fantastic week of running!