Finally Feeling the Groove of Running

Since my last post I’ve been running on a consistent basis and I’m finally starting to feel the groove of it all.

I had a minor setback, though, I was running earlier this week and about 3-4 miles in my right foot starting really hurting. I decided to stop and re-tie my shoe because I thought that it wasn’t tied tight enough, and it was causing me pain. Instead, what happened was my shoes gave me a nasty blister on my right foot right on my inner forefoot past my arch. I immediately couldn’t run like I had just the second before I stopped, and I had to walk all the way back to my car.

This was discouraging since I was running so well that day and feeling good. I had been having issues with these shoes before - they’re Hoka One One, I don’t remember which ones, but they have lots of cushion, and it’s quite a large shoe. I went to a local running apparel store here in Charlotte, NC and told them the issues I was having with my shoes, and they let me try on some more to find the ones that’ll fit right. I ended up with the Saucony Ride 15 which was on sale because the 16 was out. So, I got a good deal and from the little milage that I have put on them so far, I can say that they fit me much better than my Hokas.

Setting goals

I decided that I’m going to run an upcoming 10k that is happening in early September here in Charlotte. As someone who has never run in an event like this as an adult, I wanted to run this race to get a feel for how these events go before trying to achieve my real goal of a half marathon in November.

I want to set ambitious goals for myself so I can push myself to do something that I’m not even sure I can do. So, after the 10k I’m going to be running the Charlotte half marathon in November. This is what I’ve started training for. I figure the 10k will be a fun stop along the way to learn how race events go.

Starting Half Marathon Training

Starting half marathon training has been daunting to me but just focusing on doing what I have to each day has been nice. I’ve never trained with a real plan before, so it’s a lot different for me to be able to look ahead and see what my workout is going to be in a week.

I’ve been doing my half marathon training for about 2-3 weeks, and I think I can safely increase my goal race pace from what I had originally set. My original plan was not optimistic, I didn’t know how fast I would be able to run when I was getting started. I set something that sounded achievable to me. My goal was 10:30 min/mile for the half marathon. I’ve been able to run that fairly easily and on my long run last Sunday I ran faster than that with easy effort, I’ve adjusted my goal to a 9:45 min/mile pace as my goal.

Running vs. Weight Training

I will preface this by saying I think both weight training and some form of cardio are things we all should be doing. Running for me though has been a whole different feeling than weight training. I get a much greater feeling of happiness from running than I ever have from resistance training. Resistance training does make me feel good, though, running has just made me feel “happier” during the day. This realization has only made me feel like I want to run more. I’ve started to feel like I want to run just so I can feel good during the day which is a whole different form of motivation.

I feel like I’ve gotten past the initial wall of running that was *not *fun at all and now I can run longer a little easier. I’ve really been enjoying it and I’ll keep this blog updated as I get closer to race day for both my 10k and my half marathon.