But I don't want to run!!!

The final "F" - fitness.  The easiest and hardest part of the 4-F challenge for this school year.

I became a runner about 4 years ago now...give or take.  Once my daughter was born I needed to drop the baby weight once I started nursing.  I turned to walking and then running and I loved it!  I was able to get into a rhythm and even trained and ran a 15k, a half marathon and a 25k.  It was an amazing part of my running.  And then things changed...I did my rest period after the 25k, I stopped running for a bit.  I finished my 2nd Master's and then found a job overseas.  I took my 3 year old and flew halfway around the world....and stopped running.

We were living in a hotel for over a month and I had a new job to start and figure out what to do with my 3 year old in this new country.  It was definitely not a great time to run or do any physical fitness that didn't involve my daughter.  So I did what I could.

After a few months we were able to get settled in and I began to run again.  I tried to up my mileage and go back to the fitness level I had been...without the prep time.  I got injured - I was in a new country - on new surfaces - and old shoes.  Totally not the best combination for running again but you see I have a runner's personality.  So I kept running.

The following fall I had trained for a half marathon - my first international race - and although my foot was flaring up in pain I wanted to compete and refused to switch to the 10k.  Should have switched to the 10k as my 10k time was like 1:05 - I rocked it.  I won't even share what my half time was as I had done a 25k in that time a year and a half before.  I couldn't walk - I puked (and now everytime I go for a run she asks if I'm going to get sick).  It was a horrible experience so I took some time off of running.  I am moving to the 1 year anniversary of that race...my mileage is low and almost non-existent but I'm walking instead.  The weather here is still in the 100s over the day so the goal is start running during my daughter's gymnastics once it gets cooler.  It's just too hot at this point.

But let's be honest I hate the treadmill and that's why I haven't been running as much - 30 mins is about all I can handle on the treadmill.  So I've switched to walking and doing the hills on the treadmill in the morning - adding in circuit training and strength training a couple days a week too.  It's not that I need to run - ok I've been running long enough to know that it IS a need but I need to know my limits too.

So this weekend I have an appointment with a podiatrist to try to get my feet fixed.  I just want to run without pain again.  This is my fitness plan.