Bad Week

This was not a good week.

After the 10k on Saturday, my arch was killing me and my knees were achy (but only when I wear heels or am going down stairs).  I gave myself two days off, then did a two mile run on Tuesday.  No good.  I had wanted to do three miles, but stopped early because my arch was bothering me.

My knees continued to be achy.  I gave myself another few days off.  I've been busy, and I figured I should wait till I get my new shoes.  

Today I set RunKeeper for 3 miles, but only did 2.  Ugh.  I feel so awful about myself when I don't reach my goals.  In my head, today was going to be one of those days where I'd set the bar low, and then do something crazy like 7 miles.  I feel like such a failure for not doing that.  

The tricky part was that I knew I could do more if I really wanted to.  But my knees were achy during the run, and my arch started hurting less than a mile in.  And I wondered, how do you know when to push through pain or when to stop?  It seemed like a good idea to stop, because I don't want to mess up my arch long term.  

Being the dramatic person that I am, I was ready to cry when I got home.  I was telling myself that I suck at running, that I'm just not meant to do this, that it was crazy to even THINK I could be a runner, and thank God I didn't give into the impulse to sign up for that half marathon.  

I texted Jason to ask about when to push through the pain and when to stop.  After hearing what my problems are, he said, "You need to rest and take it easy, then... you have come a long way in a short amount of time.  The rest will allow your body to keep up!"

And just like that, I felt better.  

I don't think Jason knows how much his encouragement means to me.  Getting a "hell yeah!" text from him is what kept me going back when I first started this.  Hearing him say that I've come a long way made me pause my negative thinking.

 Last week, after the 10k, Nina told pretty much every random person we talked to, "This girl just started running a few months ago and just ran the whole 10k!"  Like it was an accomplishment.  (Isn't she a sweetheart?)  It doesn't feel like a big deal, but it really was pretty recent that I couldn't even run for 5 whole minutes.  

So.  

I'll get my new shoes tomorrow.  I am still going to do the half marathon training.  But rather than skip ahead (like I did with the 10k), I'm going to start at Week 1.  And be patient and follow the plan.   

I had a bad week.  It's not the end of the world.