All sorts of firsts...

  This week has been interesting.  The doctor put me on naproxen (or something like that) which really bothered me.  I haven't taken any type of medication for pain in about 3 years so I felt like it was a step back for me but I am doing as I'm told and it feels like things are slowly healing.
  I was very careful during Zumba this week and thankfully we don't have class tonight so I have a week and a half off to let my arm finally relax (well... a week off from class - not running and holding my beautiful godbabies).
  Running has been wonderful this week.  I've set and achieved some new goals which is always exciting.  My Monday running buddy and I set a 3mile goal and we did it.  I was pretty exhausted after we finished but I did it.  My legs were shaking so badly it took a good five minutes for them to calm down.  Kinda scared me a little bit truth be told.
  Wednesday I really pushed myself though.  In my running class he's been having me do endurance running - running hard 2 min, slow a min and back to hard 2 mins.  This week we ran just 2 miles - no tempo, no strength, no nothing - just two miles at my pace.  He said 2 or 3 times that we weren't going to stop at all which kinda made me laugh as I never stop when I run unless it's during tempos/endurance and I sometimes need a quick breath and take a 30 sec walk break.
  I was so proud of myself - we ran what's now becoming the "usual" loop since the weather was getting cold rather than the track (soccer was also playing on the inner part of the track at that point).  I kicked butt - I didn't get tired at all and even went so far as to ask if we could go a little further as we were nearing the end.
  We also had an interesting talk about some of the things guy cross country runners face - I didn't realize how much slack they get - my instructor has actually had things thrown at him just for running in shorts around town.  He said he's called "gay" and the "f" word and middle fingers all the time.  It's such a shame - people need to grow up and get over themselves.  I get whistled at and hollered at which is why I now wear earphones and crank them up - so I can block it all out.
  After a five minute break I ran with Jess who did 3 min, 30 sec break, 2 min, 30 sec break, 3 min and so on for 2 miles.  I couldn't believe when I was finished I had run 4 miles total and probably could have done another half mile easily.  It was such a great feeling - almost as good as the runner's high I used to get.
  To make things even better for my night, I went to Banana Republic to see what was on sale for the week.  I found a super cute pair of gray pants with light pink stripes on them.  I loved them but they were in a size 8 and I'm a 10 so I wasn't going to bother to try them on.  Joey insisted I at least try and what do you know... they fit.  They are the tiniest bit snug in one place but I bought them and will hopefully have them hemmed in a few weeks so they fit with my heels.
  I am hoping to do a Turkey Trot 5k with my godson on Thanksgiving while I am home.  He's been running for a while so hopefully he'll be up for the challenge. I also thought my best friend and the little ones might be interested in doing the Fun Run beforehand. We'll see.  I'm really looking forward to running in a new area again.  Last time I ran in their neighborhood I got horribly lost and ended up running for an hour because I couldn't find my way back to the house!  Hopefully having Corey with me will prevent that from happening again! : )