Hi Goofs!
I am back! whew. The past week was A TON more work than imagined and I wasn't thinking it was going to be easy.
Glad to be home even if we brought back a rip roaring case of the swine flu with us. My dd13 hasn't risen from bed for more than 10 minutes at time since Sunday. I am still hoping that noone else gets it.
The trip was good and bad. A med cruise is not anything like a caribbean cruise. Its all walking & touring. Add in 3 almost 80 year old parents and 5 teen or preteen kids and you can imagine that I didn't relax much. I had two periods where I went more than 24 hours without sleep. Lets just say that I didn't feel much like running.....
Ran today though. It was almost like celebrating it felt so good. I think it was the past three days of forced quaranteen and rest.
Cecilia, have you run the Labor Day 10K Classic? I think we're gonna sign up for it, but it sure seems like a super tough course! I'm wondering if this wouldn't be wise of me...

Those aren't hills, they are MOUNTAINS!
Shan - I haven't run it, I hear scary things about it. All uphill doesn't sound like a fun race at all. If you decide you want to run it, I will be glad to meet you there and run at your pace. We can take it easy and have fun while your dh kills himself for time. However, with the shin issue, I think you would be better off finding a fun and easy 5k to start off with. I am wondering if your pace issues and your other life issues might be related. You could be dealing with mild depression which can definately affect your running.
As for the pace thing in general. I too have many friends that obsess about their speed. For a long time, I felt like I was less of a runner because I wasn't running 7 or 8 minute miles. I was embarrased to talk about my times to them.
Then I ran Goofy with Team in Training and I stayed with a couple of girls who were injured and struggling to finish their first marathons. I ended up with a pretty lousy finish time, but I had one of the greatest days of my life. I felt like such a winner that day and all the TNT folks treated me like a rockstar.
So I get home and my pace happy friends ask why I had such a "lousy time." They try to console me about my finish time and I realize that they will never get it. Their obsession with time blinds them to the magic of running and the mystery of race day. Yes, I still love it when I have a fast time, but I refuse to let a fast time dictate whether or not I have a good time.
Hang in there. It WILL get better.
Cecilia