Unbreakable Gretchen Diehl

Females are strong as hell.

I decided 4 days ago that I should start training for the Broad Streeet Run (you know, the 10-miler that happens in 3 weeks), so I have been slapping on a few sports bras and enjoying the gorgeous weather.

It IS ridiculous that I waited this long to start, but it was icy, the baby got a cold and [insert third excuse here].  Also, I don't have the kind of... what-do-you-call-it... pride? that saddles a person with the kind of guilt that keeps them from crapping out at mile 4, so at least I know I won't overdo it.

I get to run in Cooper River Park, which is helpful because it's pretty gorgeous year round.  Today I went about 3/4 of a mile without stopping to walk, which isn't exactly braggable, but I can build from there.  Truth be told I had only run 4 miles in a stretch before I did the Broad Street Run the first time, and it was fine.

Over the years that I have half-assedly been a runner, I have learned some tricks to get through the tougher parts of a run, when you feel like quitting:

1. Visual goals:  when you feel like you'd like to walk, choose the next physical marker and tell yourself to run to that.  Even if it's only 100 feet away, you may find that when you get to it, you feel like you can keep going.  If you feel like you HAVE to walk, you should walk, but the visual goal gives you a chance to get past the stopping urge if it is just your muscles being lazy.

2. Give yourself a pattern.  A good one for beginners is; run for one minute, walk for one minute.  Just alternating helps keep your heart rate up while giving your legs and lungs the recovery time to go farther, faster than if you ran as fast as you could until you were burnt out and HAD to walk.  This is also good for preventing injury if you are concerned about your knees, back, etc.

3. Distraction.  Music is great for this, but I only like to wear headphones when I am participating in a big organized run.  When I am running alone, I feel like headphones make me vulnerable (other poeple KNOW you are distracted/ you can't hear cars or other runners), and if I am running with a buddy, I hate to feel like I'm ignoring them.  If you can't listen to music, you can think about other things; make a shopping list in your head, practice your answers to common interview questions, make mental notes about a blog post you want to write later :)

But the thing that helped me the most today was a little tip I picked up from Kimmy Schmidt; "you can stand ANYTHING for ten seconds!" 

When I felt the quitting urge, I just counted to 10, and when that 10 seconds was over, I counted to 10 again.  It's pretty insane how well it worked...

If you haven't seen it, I think the opener speaks for itself: