I've never been good at letting go of incidents that upset me.  This picture I found from  Runner Girl X  sums up pretty well what I needed to do but had a hard time doing. In the back of my mind I've always known how much my emotions affect the rest of me and how I function.  Yesterday's run brought that lesson to the forefront again. Earlier in the day I'd had a run-in that deeply upset me and left me very emotional the rest of the afternoon.  Tearful conversations with my husband and neighbors left me feeling a little better, but really, the last thing I wanted to do was my 7-mile training run. I dutifully dressed and laced up to head out anyway, knowing if I skipped the run I'd just feel worse than I already did because of guilt.  Heading out to one of my favorite trails, I should have been in a great mood and ready to put some mileage on my favorite pair of Newtons.  Instead I was still fighting back tears and wanting to go home and curl...

I love beginning a new project. Carefully laid plans, fresh new supplies, the anticipation, hard work, making progress and the reward of accomplishing a goal...What's not to love? With the encouragement of some of my Sole Sisters, I signed up for Women Rock  as my first half marathon.  My BRF (best running friend) promised to run it with me too, so that sealed the deal.  To top it all, at the finish I'll be handed jewelry and champagne by some very "lovely" assistants, if you get my drift.  I figured if that didn't get my rear across the finish line, nothing would! For weeks I pored over training plans in books and websites, searching for the one that was just right .  I found it in the book Train Like a Mother  by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea .   Fifteen weeks of workouts that clearly specified which days I could bail out if needed and which runs were absolutely necessary. Retyped and color coded, I was ready to go with a start da...

Let me just start by saying: I don't know what I'm doing. That's right, I have no idea what I'm doing with this blog.  Yet.  What I do know is that running and a couple of special blogs have influenced me greatly.  So much so, that I am inspired to share my experiences.  One year ago, I sat with my two children (then 21 months and 1 month) wondering how I was going to do it.  My spouse had just deployed, I started graduate school for speech-language pathology in August,  and the walls were closing in.  I was scared, stressed, and overwhelmed to say the least.   Fast forward to November.  I'm a basket case of stress, anxiety, and entirely too busy to enjoy life.  As I thought I couldn't handle one more thing, all hell broke loose:  my father-in-law passed away.  Several tough phone calls later, my husband was on his way home for emergency leave to attend the services.  This truly was the t...