On Earning My Badass Badge

This week I truly had to brave several elements to get my runs in. First up was our Wednesday run. I knew it was fartleks again so I was already dreading it. Upon looking at the forecast, I also realized it was 18 degrees. This was the coldest temperature I had ever faced. Couple that with the Monday-Tuesday snowstorm and you get a completely snow and ice covered bridge. The bridge was our warm up and we took it very slow, but with the wind from the Ohio river whipping onto our faces and a sun that had already set, this was the most freezing I had ever been on a run. A good part of this was that I finally felt like I am becoming a stronger runner. The fartleks didn't kill me and I didn't even feel like throwing up. Mentally, I am feeling like I can push myself more. Did I mention only about 25% of our group was there due to the temperature? Just another badass point for me. On the way back, I started feeling a terrible blister on my foot, more on that to come.

For my birthday, T.J. surprised me with a weekend trip to Louisville. I knew this would mean missing my running group, but I didn't want to miss the run completely so I called  a group in Louisville who gladly let me join up with their marathon training group. I didn't know what the temperature would actually be like when I woke up on Saturday morning.

There you have it folks. 15 degrees, feeling like 4. Good thing I had packed a lot of layers! 

Hyperwarm Nike running pants, regular Nike  dri fit, hyperwarm Nike dri fit,Old Navy athletic vest, Bengals scarf, Nike running earwarmer

When I arrived at my destination, I was ready to get a run in both physically and mentally. Unfortunately, this group did not have pace coaches like my home group. The organizer gladly found me a mentor to run with, which from what I understand are people in training who are more experienced, but they are not exactly coaches. My pace currently is around 11'30". These women were running 11', but were going to slow down for me. I am not a good enough runner at this point to pace myself AT ALL. I have no idea what pace I am running so I just kept up with the woman I was paired with. I felt like it was too fast, but at the same time I didn't want to hold her back from getting her training in. Now watch me slowly run out of gas....

Yes indeed it was much faster than what I was used to.Much faster. Did I mention it was a lot faster? It was very fatiguing for me, but I did not want to give up! The blister also came back on this run and was a real thorn in my side. Apparently this is caused by cotton socks, especially if you wear 2 pairs of cotton socks for warmth. Cotton just tends to get wet, and this made a rubbing occur on my right foot. Maybe this seems self explanatory but keep in mind, I have never been a runner in my life. 

The red area is a large blister, with 2 small blisters on top. I don't even know. It's a hot mess. 

Anyways, I really appreciated the hospitality of the running group in Louisville, however the pacing made me really miss my coaches in Newport. I am not experienced enough to pace my own running and it's helpful to have 2 coaches running with just my pace group. It's great for beginners like me. (In no way endorsed by The Running Spot, I just really like it.)

So I hope you see what made me earn my badass badge this week. There were so many excuses I could have made, but I was determined. I didn't let the temperature stop me. I didn't let snow or ice stop me. I didn't let being in a new city stop me. I didn't let a fast pace stop me. I didn't let a terribly painful blister stop me. I've finally gotten in a habit of not making excuses, which was my biggest problem before this process started. Excuses are too easy and they don't help you to accomplish your goals. Becoming truly determined means that no matter what obstacles you face, you will do what you set out to do.