I've been working on increasing my distance on my Saturday runs. I was content to do just a little under 3.5 miles for my "long" run and did that for a long time. Then one night on the way home from class I wondered how long it was to downtown Cary from my house. Turns out that it's almost exactly 2.5 miles. I thought it would be good to have a little variety from the 3 runs that I do, so I decided to work up to that. It took me a few weeks, but I did it 2 weeks ago. Last week I did 4.6 miles because I knew the extra work I'd have carrying Lily around the airshow.
Today I did 5.1 again, but with much more hills. I was excited to see that I did it in 8:08 miles. This was no small feat for me. The last mile is brutal as it is almost all uphill. There is one long break after the first climb, but then only a very short break after another long climb. It ends with a short, steep climb, 0.1 miles of slight downhill, and finally 0.1 miles of slight uphill. It definitely gets the heart and lungs going!
The key I've found through all of this is that I need to give God all the glory and praise for being able to run. I posted a photo of my old self at the height of my gluttony. Not a pretty sight. Only God could take that tub of goo and turn it into something that can run up and down hills. I want to make sure that I keep the focus in the right place.
While going up that marathon last mile I tend to think of songs in my head. "It is You," "Blessed be Your Name," "Not to Us," and "Heart of Worship" all got me through today. It was not a lot of fun, but it sure feels good to have finished!
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