Push It Wednesday: National Running Day

By Lifeasarunningmom @RunningMom6
Woo-hoo! Today is National Running Day and when this special day happens to fall on a Push It Wednesday for me, there can be no excuses! I tweeted as much last night mainly to add an extra layer of accountability to hit my 5.5 mile tempo run slated for today.
But first, what is National Running Day? It's simple. It is the first Wednesday in June and it is a day for all runners to recommit to and declare their love of running. You can learn more HERE, find group runs, or make yourself a badge!
So when my alarm went off dark and early I had that extra bug in my ear. It is National Running Day. Do you really want to oversleep today? Do you really want to miss your run today? I think not. And even though I had no desire to run a tempo run as I stepped into my car, I knew I had to do it. My training goals are too big to slack. Today is too special to slack. I told the twitter world failure wasn't an option. I had to dig deep and get it done.
I got to the gym earlier than usual and savored the extra quiet. I got on my treadmill and started my easy one mile warm-up. It was time to pick up the pace and my body always feels out of sorts at first. Yes, I did a warm up and got my body adjusted but it seems to need a second adjustment period to get used to a 8'20" pace versus a 10'00" pace. I dug deep, listened to the music and said, just go 2 1/2 songs and you can check in. That grew to 4 1/2 songs before I looked at how far I had gone. 2.25 miles. Phew. I am feeling good and strong. (You can read more about my song trick and why I started it HERE.)  Okay, go for 4 songs. That grew to 5 songs. Just one more mile to go. I was feeling good and strong and decided to go another 0.5 miles to complete a 6 mile tempo run. With my warm-up and cool -down, I ran 7.52 miles before work. A pretty good start to the day on National Running Day!
P.S. Darling daughter will be running a little extra on the playground today for National Running Day and is committed to getting a good workout in herself. Gotta love it!
What did you run today? Did you make yourself a badge? Why do you run?
Daily Gratitude: I am thankful for the ability to talk to darling daughter every morning while dear hubby drives her to school.
Daily Affirmation: I am getting stronger!