Getting stronger

I ran my first five-mile run since before I got pregnant with Aaron this evening. I figure that was somewhere around 18 months ago. It felt amazing. I ran an 8:34 pace, which is a whole lot better than where I started back in January, but with room to go towards where I was speedwise back in my running hey day. I'm very pleased.

It got me thinking, because there was a time in my life, not too many years ago, though it's beginning to feel further away than I would like, where five miles was a standard length run I did several nights a week without thinking anything of it, not a huge accomplishment that has taken me several months to achieve. I started counting and I've run four marathons, one half marathon, one ten-mile race, a bunch of 10k races, and tons of 5Ks. When I was doing all that racing I regularly ran from a 7:30 to 8-minute mile. Thing is, a lot of that kind of went away close to five years ago now when I was about halfway through Spencer's pregnancy. I've been head down pregnant, nursing, with little kids for a good long while now and somewhere in that time running became something I used to do or that I just dabbled in as opposed to something I actively do now and is one of the things that defines me. 

At the beginning of this year I decided that needed to stop and I wanted to find this part of myself again. I started running as a sport in and of itself back in 2001 when I started at BYU and realized that eating brownies and cookies and other amazing delectables that my roommates and I concocted at 3AM every night wasn't doing any favors for my fitness and weight. As I ran to get back in shape I discovered that running made me feel amazing. I'm only 5'2" tall and I've played a lot of sports growing up where my height was a pretty big disadvantage. That's just not the case for running. I found a lot of success, placed in quite a few races, and really reveled in the success I found there. 

So here I am, nearly 15 years later and I've had a few years now where running hasn't played a big part of my life. I would never have thought that would happen after I discovered how much I love it, but it's all good. I like my babies and while having them has done quite a number on my fitness and my body, I wouldn't trade it. It takes a lot of effort to get back in top shape, but that can be an enjoyable process too, at least to see the changes happen. Aaron's pregnancy particularly really did me in. There was this amazing combination of nausea and migraines that just laid me out and I never quite recovered the whole pregnancy. So I really started from ground zero at the beginning of this year trying to build strength and endurance. It has felt like a really long time, but it's only been four months and I've seen amazing changes and results. 

And you know what the best part of all this process is? I had a very full day. Bill and I did a bunch of different things. We were outside a good portion of the day, working hard. Yet when we got the kids in bed, I was only too pleased to go and hop in my running clothes and head out the door. Previously I would have flopped down on the couch exhausted after a full day. The energy levels I'm developing feel so much better than before. For heaven's sake, Aaron, lovely child that he is, woke me up three times last night. That's not normal, but it also isn't that unusual. Someday he will sleep again. Someday he will have all his teeth. I think the two may well go together. But even if he doesn't, I still have the energy to do five miles at the end of a day and not even feel that fatigued. And when all is said and done, that is incredible, because it means that there is more of me to share with my littles, and that makes me very happy. So cheers to getting back in shape, for all the good endorphins I get, for the energy, for the positive effects on my body. It's a good thing all around.