I'm back and I'm ringing a bell...

Alright folks, for the first time since the marathon I laced up my shoes and out I went this morning on my first run.  No matter whether I am running 4 miles like today or 26.2 miles, it is still incredibly hard to get up and get out there.  Here's how my morning played out.

At about 3:30 am, I woke up panicked that I had slept in.  When I realized that it was a false alarm, I sat in bed thinking, "What if I do sleep in and Leanne stands outside waiting for me?"  Now I have given myself a true reason to not go back to sleep with ease.  I tossed and turned for about 30 minutes and off to bed I went again. Then again I woke up at 5:00 am this time.  I was pretty tired so I rolled over dreading that I only had another hour left of snooze time.

My real alarm went off at 6:15 am.  It never ceases to amaze me that I can wake up naturally and feeling wide awake at 3:30 am, but at a decent hour when my alarm goes off, I am so tired I can hardly open my eyes.  I hit the snooze button for 10 more minutes knowing that I would only have 5 minutes to get up, get ready and go outside.  However, I was secretly hoping in my mind that Leanne may want to postpone or cancel so I could warrant a bit more sleep.

At 6:25 am my alarm rang again.  I looked at my phone and no messages from Leanne.  I said my favorite word "Crap" and up I went.  I got ready and I collected all my running items from the spot that I left them after the marathon.  I started to become reminiscent.  I was thinking, "The last time I looked at this watch or wore these shoes I was running the LA Marathon."  Remembering all the pain the marathon caused me, my reminiscent state changed to a state of thankfulness.  I thought, "Well, at least today I only have to run 4 miles and not 26.2. Whao!"

Running this morning was a bit more challenging than I had expected.  Currently, I am battling a kidney infection, which I also likely had during the marathon last week.  I am on medicine that makes my joints and bones very achy.  After about mile 2, I felt every step that I took.  However, in runners fashion, I kept on going.  As I rounded the end of our loop, my right knee was on fire.  We kept on pushing through and when we stopped we realized that we had run one of our fastest times ever.

I don't know about the rest of you runners, but the smell of the type of success instantly dulls any pain away.  We were so happy and I felt amazing afterwards.  All and all, it's so good to be back running and blogging.  Just as you have missed me, I have missed writing to you!