A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Becoming a Triathlete

Today I met with some friends to do our long run.  We are all working towards a 1/2 marathon in September and we are trying to run together every chance we get.  I live about an hour away from everyone so we try to meet in the middle.  Today we chose Farnsworth Park, which is really just a few parks along a trail through the woods along the Maumee River.  It's beautiful!

9.2 mile later I was sucking wind and struggling up really small inclines!  One friend and I even deemed the smallest hill "Mt. Rushmore" because we felt like it went up at 90 degrees.  It really didn't (obviously!) but it felt like we were scaling a wall!  The run felt great until about mile 7.  We call runs like these "sucktastic" because they suck, but hey, we are out there doing them- which is fantastic!

How could you not love a run that has views like these?

The trail goes through several nice parks and where you can often walk down rocks to the edge of the water.  

Little flowers are tucked everywhere.

It's on runs like these that I think back to where I was over a year ago.  I was lazy and felt like crap every single day.  Since then, I have found a love for running (even when they suck!), biking, and swimming.  

Just this afternoon I had to put little baby T in the car and drive around to get him to nap- he doesn't like to miss any action!  When this happens, I often drive on different roads to find good bike routes.  Today I was so happy because I found a road that I haven't taken before that has massive rolling hills (a VERY unusual aspect to Northern Ohio!)  Ok, so they probably weren't massive to those of you in other southern states, but for NW Ohio, they looked pretty big and rolling to me!  Expect a post on this in the future!

I used my trip odometer on the way back to find the distance and it's just 8 miles from my house where I would turn around on this road.  It will be a good 16 mile ride there and back!  Perfect!

I laughed to myself as I thought about all of this- NEVER would I have been excited to find a bike route with hills before.  Suddenly I like finding a good place to ride my bike?  What?   I laughed because I even thought about asking my hubby if I could take my bike out tonight for the ride....  after I JUST ran 9 miles this morning!  Who does that?  (BTW- I didn't!  I just decided that my legs needed some rest....but trust me, I REALLY wanted to!)

My life has changed so much since I started this thing called running.  I now look forward to my run, ride, or swim.  It's amazing what feeling good can do for you!