I ran 3 miles again yesterday and today (Saturday and Sunday) on the walking path. New challenges? I ran the 3 miles two days in a row – I haven’t done that before. Also, I always look at my watch and time myself – run 3 minutes, then walk 1 or 2 minutes, run 3 minutes, etc. Today was the first day that I didn’t feel like I needed to keep looking at my watch. I thought I’d just keep running until I got too tired. I ended up running for 4 minutes straight before needing a walking break and then another 4 minutes straight after that. Then I started to need more walking breaks. My guess is that maybe my body was just tired since I ran 3 miles two days in a row? And it’s never really my body, my legs could keep on going but it’s my lungs that always feel like they are going to explode and then I need to take a walking break. I hope eventually that this goes away and then I can truly truly enjoy running, without the discomfort of feeling like my chest is screaming out in agony for me to walk.

Another thing that I concentrated on today was not anticipating the path ahead. I’d catch myself thinking that I had to hurry up because I had to be at my destination in time because Jim would be there to pick me up. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I didn’t get there in time but for some reason I kept thinking I should hurry up. When I’m trapped in that type of thinking it’s good training for me to live in the moment and stop anticipating. I told myself, forget about the destination, forget about the time. What I’m doing now is running for 3 or 4 minutes straight. That’s all I need to worry about. If I think about what I’m doing now and just concentrate on that, I will be at my destination before I know it. And that’s exactly what happened.

I think my overall timing may have improved just a little. I think I can run the 3 miles just a few minutes faster than maybe a few weeks ago. I don’t keep exact track of my timing, but it seems like it’s going a little faster. The 3 miles doesn’t seem to be as long to me as it used to either. I’ve found what feels like to me to be the halfway point. It seems like nothing now to get to that point, and once I’m past that point, it seems like I’m just on the homestretch and it doesn’t feel like such a long way at all. I’m thinking of extending my course a little further for next week. That’s another thing I enjoy about running, there are always new challenges that one can add. Keep moving, keep growing.   : )