4 more miles

I guess it takes the lowest of lows to really appreciate running. I'm not sure what happened today, but halfway through my run I actually liked what I was doing. It's been a while since I felt that way. When I wasn't hurt for that short time this winter, everything felt so ... I don't know ... blah. I was going through the motions.

As you've read, I've struggled to really get into running this year. Even when I have, it's been tough to be positive. Something clicked today, though, and I ran a great 4 miles. That would be two 4-mile runs two days in a row. Excluding the 8k/half marathon weekend, I haven't hit distances like that in consecutive days since March 1 and 2 (5.8 and 8) and March 5 and 6 (3.9 and 4.5) -- a full two months ago.

More important than the distance, though, it how great everything feels, both physically and mentally. I feel I've gotten over that mental hump of being worried about hurting myself. It's also giving me a chance to think about other things going on in my life. Physically, it feels great to not be hurt and to not have my lungs give out on me. It's nice that some of my conditioning has stuck with me. There's still a lot of work to do, but if you would've told me a month ago that I'd be feeling like this today, I would've told you that you're crazy.