The Fun Continues...

I never thought I would say that running is fun. I just figured the headaches, coughing and knee pain were part of the deal; I wanted no part of this. The side stitches were not appealing either. They would come about almost instantly at the start of a run and last pretty much throughout the routine. But last night there were no negatives!

Ed and I met up for weekly run #2. I did some solo running in between our meet-ups but was looking forward to keeping up with the speed demon...in a snow storm! Aside from all the snow on my eyelashes, the run was seemless. Ed was naturally many paces ahead but made some stops to write encouraging messages in the snow. "Go Jen, go!" "You're 1/2 way there!" "Come on already!"

The run back after Starbucks also felt great and I even picked up my pace! I've never finished this strong before. The core strength I'm getting from yoga and pilates is making all the difference; it was my first run without flank pain. I'm hoping my pace and endurance will gradually improve in the coming weeks. Ten miles (my goal) seems far off in the distance; I'm worried that running it will feel like an eternity. And my guru is making run #3 a straight shot without breaks. But, he tells me, there will be a surprise at the end. It appears he is willing to bribe me to my ten mile goal. I'm totally ok with this :)

I wish for every runner a friend like Ed.