See Judi Run

Sunday morning began early with a run with Tina. It was so nice to see her again. We started at the cop-shop and ran/walked for about 3.55 miles assuming my calibration on the iPod is correct and 4.00 miles, assuming it isn't. For the sake of my sore muscles, I'll claim it isn't.

I had forgotten how much more difficult and straining it is to run outdoors on actual pavement versus running inside a controlled environment on a treadmill. Holy cow my shins are killing me! I wouldn't say I've got full-out shin splints, but my legs hurt in places they haven't felt anything in ages. I definitely will be adjusting the treadmill to a 1% incline to mimic the effort required for outdoor running. Otherwise, all these weekday miles won't amount to anything when it comes to conditioning myself for the big run in January.

I'll post more later, but although Sunday was a nice slap of the reality of the difficulties I can anticipate during this journey on which I've embarked, it was also a nice change from the slothlike existence I've led while trying to fix problems that weren't mine to own. Maybe I'll try to focus on the things I can control, like stepping onto that treadmill/track/trail 5 days a week and having the mindset to approach it as a means of finding joy, rather than something that's necessary to lose that next pound. Forget maybe, that sounds like a plan to me. And it's a nice perk that the pounds are falling off all on their own. It's a shame Joel likes big girls. It's a shame I accepted being one because I thought that would make a difference. But it's absolutely brilliant and fabulous that I'm getting my self-image re-established and my body back after those years of letting both just waste away.

Life is still good. It's just different.