Rollercoaaaaster.. of Running

The lack of my blog posts recently is, quite sadly, reflective of my lack of running. For the past 3 days the weather here has been crazy - lightning, hail, the works - and I have not found it in me to brave Mother Nature's bipolar monsoon. Yes I am using that as an excuse... More on that later. However, I have to celebrate one victory that occurred last Thursday. I RAN 7 MILES!!! I might have looked disheveled, exhausted, and delirious, but I ran the farthest that I ever have before. When I started my run, I had no plan whatsoever to run that far. But I guessed my recent runs paid off.. Every time I hit that "half-way point" where I was supposed to turn the corner, I told myself "hey what's one more street?" and kept going. Highlight of my run: at around mile 5, I passed by two older gentlemen. One of them shouted out at me "girl, you gotta get your knees up!" and then turned to his friend, and said "she's gotta get her knees up!" They got me. My feet were DRAGGING. And I'm not going to lie, I tried to "get my knees up" a little more and it helped! Lucky me for having personal running coaches to help me brave the streets of Berkeley and Oakland. After that accomplishment I ran twice more and it was great. Then Monday came. And Tuesday came. And Wednesday came. And the weather came. And I slacked. I think this is going to be one of my bigger challenges... Coming back from a 3 day break (and after doing so well!) and hurting as I get back on track to conquering the half marathon. The worst is that it's all mental, the whole "getting back on the horse" cliche. BUT I CAN DO IT!!! I have my running stuff packed up and I am hitting the track after work today. If I put it in writing, it will happen? Finally, in other news, next week I am planning to meet the UPA students who are going to DC!!! I am really looking forward to this... It will be wonderful to meet and talk to the kids who we are all making donations for and for whom I am running. I think this will be the inspiration I need to keep at it! Here is my terrible cliche for this post: Rome wasn't built in a day. Seriously though. Baby steps.