becoming a color runner

Last fall, I started running with my neighbor. I was posting about doing the c25k program. Well, my neighbor and I never finished the program. We stopped at week 6, because Handsome became very ill and doctors told us we were looking at days, weeks at the most before he past away. While doing the c25k program, I was doing it! But I wasn't loving it. I wasn't getting that "runner's high" everyone talks about. I couldn't find my "runner's groove." I was doing it for weight loss, simple as that. 

But when my son past away, I started running again.I would find myself upset, thinking about Handsome passing or the hard life he had and I'd get up and run. And I learned what a runner's high was. I found my groove. I fell in love with running. 

Writing and music have always been my therapy. I'd sing at the top of my lungs to work out frustrations or I'd journal about inner conflicts. But losing Handsome has been so much more then a few frustrations or inner conflicts. It's been excruciating pain, unbearable sadness, anger.... Running has helped me work through some of it. 

This past Saturday, my friends Cindy and Sarah joined me on my first 5k, the color run in Nashville, TN. 

We stopped at each color station to take a picture. This was yellow!

Orange Station.

Pink Station!

BLUE!

About to cross the finish line...

And we are officially color runners, now! 

Some of the most fun I've had in a long time I'm anxious for the next one. 

c25k week 4

I'm sure a lot of y'all are wondering how I am doing with c25k...

Well tonight M and I finished week four day one. I think this was the hardest one yet. I was dying the whole time. I kept telling her I can't do this. I have to stop, but I kept going... I was going slow, but I kept going. And we finished. I don't think I've ever been so proud of myself as I was tonight for pushing through that run. 

M has so much determination and is in so much better shape then me. She runs ahead of me and sometimes even runs laps around me. She's talking while I'm huffing and puffing. She's checking out all our neighbors Halloween decorations and I'm seeing spots! I want to hate her for it, but it's what keeps me going. I look up and see her going strong and I think "who is she to outrun me?!" lol No. I'm glad I have her running with me. I don't think I would have made it this far... I know I wouldn't have made it this far and I feel myself getting stronger. Just 3 weeks ago I was struggling to run 60 seconds, now I'm pushing 5 minutes. 

Another thing keeping me going is the 5K we signed up for. We thought it might be motivation to kick our butts in gear and not skip a week if we signed up for a 5K that would happen right at the end of our C25K program.... At the time it sounded smart.