Let me preface this picture with the fact that I am not a morning person and I'm usually struggling to come to full awareness during the meetings in the morning. Hence my confused face and atrocious posture.
Next came the mission moment. Erin shared her dad's story. Luckily, he is a survivor and she gets to run in the hopes that, someday, a little girl doesn't have to go through the horror she did at learning her dad had cancer. We got to add his name to our collection of ribbons.
Next was the form clinic. It sounds silly that form would be so important, but I can promise, it definitely helps in a myriad of ways.
Luckily, Coach Gaily is a self proclaimed "form freak" and had been coaching me at the last practice, and when we did laps at conditioning. It doesn't set in right away and you sometimes have to remind yourself to do it, but it really does take some of the stress off and can even - GASP - relieve pain in your legs.
So, after the coaches had to demonstrate some forms of incorrect running form, which ranged from wildly flailing arms to hunched shoulders to over exaggerated steps to talking on your cell phone (and yes, I've seen those in action), they showed us correct forms of running and walking. I didn't get pictures of the incorrect forms because I was laughing too hard.
Then came the run. Twenty-five minutes out, twenty-five minutes back. I was praying I would be able to run the one-one intervals.
Gaily has been ridiculously patient and so amazing. I will be forever grateful she ended up as my pace coach because she has given me answers to all of my questions and educated me on every aspect of running long miles. I'm not sure I'd still be going if it wasn't for her encouragement. So this day. she made us start out walking until I felt warmed up.
We started trying out the intervals, but my shins were on fire. Here's the thing with my shins: I always want to push through. I want to say "Screw it!" and just go. I know I can run. So this pain is incredibly frustrating to me. Yes, I am seeing a doctor and stretching and taping and doing everything that has been suggested. I can't even focus on the struggle of building miles or feeling my body adjust to endurance runs. It's all focused on the shins and the pain.
But when I get discouraged, Gaily is right there to tell me it's okay and we'll work up to it. So, instead of one-one run intervals, we did different speeds of walking in intervals. It allowed me to focus on holding and moving my arms right, and to feel the difference taking smaller steps actually makes.
Along the way, we picked up another teammate who was struggling with some calf tightness. Gaily quickly swept Janet into our little group and we walked our hearts out. We even shortened our time on the way back and made it to the finish line in less than twenty five minutes.
Go figure.
Still, the team never makes me feel bad about finishing last or being the one with an injury. They simply reassure me it's good I'm listening to my body and not pushing myself. I've come to love the fact that we are the "anchors" and the phrase, "Hey, at least you're out here doing it!"
So, I just have to have faith I'll get there. Because I will. It's all going to be worth it in the end.
(And don't forget, I can't do this without your guys' help! You can get to the donation page either through the icon on top or through the little widget in the sidebar. You're all awesome!)
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