Today was my first long run since June. I had a lot of things to do this morning and it was really hard to get out on time, but I did it. I woke the baby up and fed her at 6:00 a.m., then got myself together. Last night sucked buttholes (do you not love the visual imagery I am able to create for you?), because with my period gracing me with its presence every month now, I have noticed a decrease in my milk supply for 2-3 days. Sucks that I have to have my period while I am nursing. Sucks even more that Eric dropped the bombshell on me yesterday that he would require more milk from me because he wanted to take Allison up to his dad’s 45 minutes away today. That required 6 hours worth of milk. I was only prepared for 3 hours. I had total performance anxiety. I could hardly get any milk out. Plus, coupled with the cluster feeding, I did not have a second without child on boob to even pump.

Enough about my boobs and my boob tangent…

So, I was on time to Hospitality Point or Ho Po, as some call it. I got to warm-up, stretch, then off for a 40-50 minute out and back. My goal this year is to run without stopping to fuck around with my GPS, my watch, my heart monitor, or my IPod. I found that when things got tough, I was using fiddling around with that stuff as a way to stop. No matter how slow I am moving, I am not going to stop. That is what I did today and I felt great!!

I had a lot of compliments from other people because they were so impressed that I was already out running after a c-section two months ago. I HAVE to run now though. Try telling me not do something and it is almost a guarantee that I will do it. After being told to be in bed or on modified bed rest, try to stop me from running now.

My knees feel great now and I think it was my shoes that were causing me issues a couple weeks back. I am feeling really, really good out there. I remember how free I felt before and it was wonderful today; just as wonderful as I remember it being. It was so nice to be out there and do something for myself.

My goal is to run my marathon as fast as Oprah ran her 1994 marathon: 4:29:20 That is my goal. If I am not ready for it, FINE, but I am aiming for that. But…FOR NOW? Baby steps. Baby steps. I CAN do this.

Our running slogan for San Diego Track Club:

Now bid me to run, and I will strive with things impossible.

I am all motivated, fired up and irritating now.

Last night was our first track practice. The track itself is a really nice stadium. The marathon training group has three levels, if you will. There is the beginner group, called Blind Faith, the intermediate group, called The Cure, and the advanced group, called Bad Company. Since it is the Rock n’ Roll Marathon training, all the groups have band names. (Last year, we had different band names, but I cannot remember them now, because my brain got fried during pregnancy. I feel like I have Alzheimer’s sometimes, because I seriously cannot remember shit. My memory used to be so good.)

Here is our track club. That is a lot of people!!

Last year there was about 500 people training for the marathon. This year, there is about 630 people!!! There was over 300 people running on the track at the same time. Organized chaos, I tell ya. They do such a great job though. I just love the coach, he’s a great guy. When you are running out on the track or on the long runs, he tells you he loves you and what a wonderful bunch of people we are. He is just one of those people that does not wear his religion as a badge to make you feel bad. He just glows, and it is like you can see God in him. It is really inspirational when you are in mile 10 of a 20 mile run and he tells you that you are awesome and he loves you. The track club really feels like a family and that is the feeling he fosters in everyone. It is pretty cool.

Anyway, I saw so many people from last year and a few people from the other running club I ran with 2 years ago that sucked giant assholes (sorry for the visual, I really hated it that much, the coach sucked them too!). I got to talk to many people I had not seen since April or May or so. Many people asked about the baby and my face lit up talking about her. I cannot wait to bring her out to practice and show her off.

It was so nice to talk to some adults and do some stuff on my own, without a baby attached to my boob. I love Allison and missed her terribly. I thought about her the whole time and did not put her down the rest of the night when I got home. She had plenty of milk and a nice daddy to take care of her. I am so excited about this year’s marathon program and actually completing it this year. I ran 20 miles, 4 months pregnant. I know I can do this marathon.

My legs felt really strong. Our workout was: Jog/stride straight-aways, walk/jog curves for 8 laps, plus our 3 lap warm-up. They do such a good job with the stretches. I am a good kind of sore today. It was a blast!!! I am looking forward to doing this again. I am looking forward to Eric and the baby being a part of this exciting training too. Eric is going to train to walk the marathon. So, Allison will be going to the Saturday runs too.