I feel happy! Oh, so happy!

Running endorphins. Apparently one thing that was missing in my ability to deal with the frustration at work was running endorphins. It makes sense, actually. My running routine was steady and true right up until Christmas break when the arctic freeze set in. I ran a total of seven times in the month of December. And an embarrassing three times in January. THREE TIMES.

Sheesh, it’s no wonder I was cranky.

Well, sister Allie to the rescue and now I’m training for a half-marathon. This means I’m on a firm running schedule where I run five times a week {Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri and a long run on Saturday} come hell or high water. And I love it.

I’m also bound and determined to stick to the training schedule Allie has laid out for me. Last Tuesday an unexpected {and unwanted} conversation at school waylaid me. It made the four miles I needed to run and had looked forward to all day impossible to fit in before my counseling appointment. And I? Y’all, I was fit to be tied. I called Allie in a sniveling mess and, thankfully, she talked me off the ledge and offered a doable solution that didn’t mess up my training schedule overall. Ahem, drama queen much?

There’s a good reason for my dogged determination to follow the schedule that Allie has laid out for me. You see, Allie also trained me for my one and only marathon. It was a good schedule, a sensible and generous one. Only I slacked off. A lot. I didn’t do the midweek runs that I needed to and I wussed out of some terribly essential long runs which mean that my longest long run wasn’t nearly long enough.

The results? I ended up straight walking at mile eighteen. This did not sit well with Allie and we got into a full on fight. In the middle of a marathon. After I’d run/walked seventeen miles which included some insane hills. She was {rightfully} ticked that I wasn’t pushing harder and I was ticked she wouldn’t back off. The yelling went a little like this,

“Lu, you can do this! You have trained for this! Come. On.”

“Allie, back off! I have pushed as much as I can! I just want to finish, that’s it!”

“But, Lu! YOU CAN DO THIS! Just start running!”

“Allie, no! Back off! Finishing, that’s it, that’s all I want to do!”

And so on until about mile nineteen. Then we walked in silence until mile twenty. And then we were over it and all was well. That’s just how we roll.

So while she’ll be running the full marathon and I’ll be running the half {in probably about the same time ‘cause she’s freaky fast like that}, I’m determined to avoid a repeat of the above scenario. Not for Allie, but for myself. I want to do this and do this well.

Running endorphins. Go get you some.