I failed to mention yesterday that my cross country coach wanted me to run 30 hours in the next 28 days. He says throughout this 28 day period is when I’ll really discover myself as a runner. Some runs may be fast, some slow, some running with others some alone. It is all a time for me to discover my love and passion for running. Throughout this 28 day period, I will discover my strengths, weaknesses and everything about my running.

Today is day 2, and yesterday I ran 62 minutes. Today I ran a total of 70 minutes.

He says to guestimate times and miles don’t matter, but can you really say that to a math major type A personality?

I think not.

This morning started bright and early at 7 am. Not too bright and not even too early. I went for a 40 minute run and right as I finished it started to rain. It rained almost all day today. I felt good during my run and decided to go further than normal.

My first discovery of the 28 period came today as well! I also have found that cycling my arms instead of moving them back and forth normally really helps me. I think that comes in part from with swimming I am an avid “puller.” I have more shoulders and arm muscles than the average runner I suppose.

My second run came in around 3:00pm. It was like the rain stopped at 2:55 and wanted me to run again. It gave me about 8 hours apart which was nice. I ran 3.5 miles in total which puts me at about 8 miles today…and lots of hills.

Today while reading our school newspaper, I got a glimpse of this! I had no idea my name would show up and I’m so excited about it. That sort of extrinsic motivation could not have come at a better time.