A Random Post about Running and Thankfulness

I woke up this morning on the couch groggy but with an overwhelming feeling of thankfulness. JAC woke up twice in the middle of the night starving and so I had moved to the couch to get some sleep in between feedings. Jess knows that if I'm sleeping on the couch I've had a bad night and he woke me up this morning with a kiss. He usually takes care of JAC early in the morning so I can get some extra sleep but since JAC had eaten at 4:00 a.m. he was still sleeping. Instead Jess had made me some coffee because he knew I needed it. It was really thoughtful and I felt blessed to have such a great husband.

Yesterday when Jess got home from work the three of us went on a run. I had already gone running in the morning but I'm trying to increase my mileage so I decided to go again. It was so much fun and reminded me of when we ran together when we were dating. Jess pushed the stroller and he encouraged me to run ahead so I could work on my speed. I tried to run as fast as I could and it felt really good. I've spent so much time running behind a stroller I was afraid I'd never get any speed back. It was nice to feel fast again. (In total disclosure fast for me is currently a 9 minute mile - not too fast.)

Our extra work out last night paid off because this morning I felt great on my run. I definitely shaved some time off my usual run route. Part of the run route takes us on a paved trail through a very wooded area. I have always suspected snakes lived in those woods but today my suspicion was confirmed. We were jogging along and right in the middle of the road was a small snake. I initially freaked out and came to a complete stop. (My friends and family know I have been terrified of snakes my whole life. When I was little I was even scared of pictures of snakes. ) I took a deep breath, reminded my self the snake was harmless, summoned all of my courage and kept running on past the snake. Could having a kid have made be braver? I am secretly proud of myself.

I'll end this post with a quick word of thanks to my sister Laura. I've been working really hard to loose weight. I spent a month running over 20 miles a week only to not loose a single pound. I was feeling really discouraged but Laura - who is an expert at working out - reminded me that its not the first month that counts. It is the second month that matters and I should keep at it. I took her advice and now that I'm half way through my second month of serious running I'm finally starting to see a little bit of progress on the scales. Thanks for the encouragement Laura!