Morning Run

  I have 3 favorite days of the week - Wed, Fri and Sun.  The reason these are my favorite days are because they are the days I have my classes - Running 101 and Zumba.
  I love running.  I picked it up one night (I swear) in NC.  I was stressed after a failed event and how my boss reacted to something at the event so I started walking really fast and then broke into a run.  Every night after that, I would add a little more distance - "I can make it to that lamp post" or "I can go until the end of the song" until I was running on/off 2-3 miles a night.  I ran so much I had horrible shin splints after each night but they kept me running because if I walked it hurt too much.  Now that I understand running, I see how I could have seriously damaged my legs and muscles with how hard I was pushing myself but at the time,  I really needed to.
  Those days, and the stress I was dealing with (mostly from a bad long-distance relationship) are far, far behind me.  But my love of running has not left me.  I stopped when I moved to the new city because I was used to running with the girls and here I have no one to run with.  When I noticed the running class ad at the gym on campus I jumped at the chance to start again.  I haven't regretted it yet.
  My biggest challenge right now is I am an outside runner - I love running outside in the fresh air - no matter what the temp is.  Yes, that is the truth - I've run in under 30 degrees before because some nights I just craved that runners high.  I am one of those lucky people who can get a runners high very easily and I enjoy every minute of it. :)  Such a rush.
  But anyway, with the class I am taking, we run on the track inside, above the gym.  The track is 8laps to 1 mile.  I get frustrated because every time I take a corner I know I lose time and since the track is smaller and so rectangle I tend to lose my focus very easily and lose my pace.  I'm working on it but it's an ongoing struggle for me to overcome right now.
  My instructor suggested I start running outside.  I think I may soon.  They are calling for a weekend in the 50's so it would be the perfect time to start.  I miss running in the cold air and getting that warm feeling from a good run. :)
  I almost didn't get up this morning - for a few reasons.  I forgot to set my alarm and somehow woke up at 3am and realized this.  However, when I woke up, it took me a good 30 minutes to fall back asleep which meant when the alarm went off at 6am I was in the middle of a deep sleep and it took me a few minutes to wake up.  But, in the end, I have 2-3 people waiting on me so I have to be there.
  We ran a little over 2 miles today.  We are building up for a 5k on April 5th (I think) so I'm looking forward to it.  We are all going to run it together which will be good motivation for me.  I've run 3 before and I want my 4th to be my best time yet.  The instructor says that we are up to a little over an 80sec lap which means we are hitting close to a 10min mile.  My goal is a little under a 10min mile so I can hit my 30min goal.  Anything under 35min will be great because that was my last time in Dec. 2008.  I'm also excited about being able to run to miles with very few breaks.  We're down to running five minutes and taking a 30sec break and then continuing.  This was our easy week - next week we'll go back up to about a 3 mile run followed by an even harder week so I'm looking forward to the challenge. :)  I can tell I'm improving and the fact that after running 2 miles with only a few 30 sec breaks, two of us were able to do our entire last lap in 45 secs (we ran at our top speed) made me feel really good about how far I've come in such a short time.
  And really, nothing beats walking home at 7.30am and watching the sun rise as I cross campus. :)  So perfect.