I'm back baby !

I have an announcement to make - I ran 15mins (with a 1min walk break somewhere in the middle) PAIN FREE this morning !

WOOHOO :-)

I can't begin to tell you when happy I am today.

When I crawled into bed last night (actually I think it was the early hours of this morning), I was kind of dreading having to get up early to go for a run. Must have been numerous glasses of wine talking 'cause as soon as the alarm this morning I was up and out of bed, feeling everything from nervous to excited about heading out for a run as a part of comeback no. 2

After a 12mins walk to warm up, I set out to run laps on the grass around my local oval. I took a 1min walking break at about the 8.30min mark because of a lack of fitness but finished quite strongly. TPC behaved herself very well; there was none of the generalised tightness that I experienced during comeback no.1. There was a slight niggle in my knee as soon as I stopped running but it was gone by the time I had walked across the oval. Normally I'd stop to (briefly) stretch my calves, glutes & ITB straight after running and before finishing off my session with a bit more of a walk. However just for something new, this time I decided not to stop to stretch and instead to "stretch out" my legs by walking for a further 15mins (42mins session in total) before stretching and icing TPC when I got home. Even now, hours later after walking up and down numerous flights of stairs, TPC has still been on her best behaviour. To say I'm a happy gal would be an understatement.

Edit: very happy with my new snazzy (though not so clean anymore) shoes :-)

My wonderful day continue when Mr and Mrs Lulu hosted a "runners" lunch (which Mr Lulu's delightful mother 'crashed' and listened to us talk about - yes, you guessed it - running!) for Mr and Mrs Wildthing, Mr and Mrs Kit, The Owl, Don Juan, Go Girl and myself. A wonderful afternoon with great company, great food and great wine.

I've been on an emotional rollercoaster over the last 4 months - can you believe that it has been 4 months (as at next Saturday) since I pulled out of the CC Half? A wise friend asked me on Friday to think about what I can do to find some consistency, both physically and mentally which proved to be a tough question to answer - however this is, I think, what I need to do:

* make more time to read (in addition to my travelling time). Reading seems to 'centre' me. Maybe it's the escapism element?

* make sure I read my health and fitness magazines. There a couple of magazines that I buy (including R4YL and RW). I always feel more focused and motivated after reading them. The last few months editions are currently located in a big pile in the lounge room gathering dust;

* not get stressed about planning the wedding - it's supposed to be a fun time, not a stressful one;

* exercise at least 5 times per week;

* stretch every day;

* focus on slowly building up my fitness, particularly on the bike and the elliptical machine. My goal is a return to my beloved spin classes. I need to set a date for achieving this goal; I'll think about it and get back to you....

That's all I've come with up so far. I'll think about it more over the course of this week....

My draft schedule for the week ahead looks like this (final schedule is waiting confirmation from my 'guru'):
Monday: upper body weights session OR pilates + cardio (16mins elliptical)
Tuesday: TBC
Wednesday: weights session with Satan + 10mins bike
Thursday: TBC
Friday: lower body weights session
Saturday: cheerleading duties at 6ft track!
Sunday: run (TBC)