starting over with night running

I ran!!!   Amazing I know - a runner running....  It has been one month, one week and two days since my last run.  I will admit it was SO hard to get started again.  I should have started a couple weeks ago, but the weather was bad, life was busy...you know how it is, so it just got pushed aside. 

In all honesty I was afraid to start running again. I had started weight watchers and have done very well the past month.  I kept wondering - is it bc I'm NOT running that I'm losing weight.  Yes i know diet and exercise will work, but for me they dont seem to.  i can focus on one but the other goes to the wayside. 

a friend asked last week if i would go running with her. i said yes but was very hesitant. i'm always nervous when running with someone new and was very nervous about running with this person bc she is very competitive in everything she does.  i knew i would be slow and was afraid she would leave me or make fun of my slowness.  she said she hadn't run in a month either so that made me feel better, but i was still nervous.  last week she had something come up so we scheduled our first run for tuesday (last night)

i HAVE to start running again bc there are some big races in the fall that I want to do and one I have already paid for so i knew if i ran with someone i would be forced to go and make myself do it.

on monday i decided i was just going to do one mile on the treadmill on my run 4, walk 1 interval. just so tuesday i wouldnt be running 3 miles for my first run back.  i tried to use my footpod since our treadmill is wonky, but apparently the footpod's battery is dead bc the garmin woudlnt pick it up.  so i had to go by what the treadmill said, which was not pretty! ;(   17:40 for one mile! Blah. That's horrible even for me!

yesterday it was raining so i texted my friend to see if she would run in the rain. she said depending on how hard it was she would. i had already planned on bailing if it was raining, bc i can run on the treadmill.  however, the rain held off and i met her at her house at 9:15pm after i dropped dinner off for jeremy.  she wanted to run 3.1 miles and knew the route from her house to get that.  the very start though is up a fairly short, but steep hill, which i was not looking forward to. 

we set off though and i felt good.  she is a talker and talked pretty much the whole time. which was good bc i think it made her go slower than she normally might have.  we ran up through down town and the street lights were enough not to need a head lamp.  i wasnt' thinking when i dressed to go though and put on a dark purple running shirt and shorts.  definitely need to wear something lighter in color next time we go that late. 

my pace was comfortable, i didnt get out of breath or struggle breathing like i normally do.  i didnt do my run 4, walk 1 interval. but we did stop and walk probably 4-5 times during the course of the run. our average pace was much better than my treadmill time the night before and was really good considering i hadn't run in over a month. 

i am happy with my run and glad i didnt put off running another week....  now to get back into the groove and make it a habit again!