Tender Mercy Tuesday: 62nd Edition

Hello my friends! It's been a little while since I've done a Tender Mercy Tuesday huh? Sorry about that - not that there haven't been blessings in my life....it's just I haven't taken the time to sit down and tell you about them.

Last night I received a wonderful tender mercy during my run. Now this might not make sense at first, but stay with me and it might make sense in the end. (I hope)

As you may recall, I have been doing ballet basically my entire life. So excuse me while I talk about dance for just a moment (this relates, I promise!) When you turn (pirouettes, chaines, fouettes, etc) there is a technique dancers use to not get dizzy: spotting. So, when you spot when turning and traveling across the floor/stage you pick a spot in the place you want to end up and you want this spot to be just above eye level so that your chin doesn't drop and the audience can't see your pretty face. BUT as you get closer to your destination, your spot has to change otherwise your chin is going to end up too high in the air, your focus too high and you'll defeat the purpose of spotting and end up a dizzy mess.

You're probably wondering right now what this has to do with running, well let me tell you!

See, when I run I like to pick an object to run to, often a lampost or a bush, or a tree. Something easily identifiable. Often, I pick this object with the thought that "if I just get to that tree then I can walk for just a second." Usually I then a pick another object to walk to...this process usually happens as I'm getting very tired and drained and am trying to push myself. Last week as I started running again (after too long of a hiatus) I found myself using this "trick" of pushing myself (or so I thought) quite often. Well last night, things went differently.

Soldier Boy and I decided to pick a new place to run besides the block around my house and jumped on his motorcycle to go to the City Park which I kid you not is less than a mile from my house. This City Park is HUGE. We had found a runner's map that ran a route around the park that was about 2 miles. We didn't end up going the 2 miles (we skipped one of the loops and took a shortcut. ;) ) but the great thing about this run is that I had a new realization. See, if I apply the theories of spotting to my run, then I go longer and keep up a very regular pace (especially if I'm listening to some good music, which I was!). See, instead of picking an object to run/jog to and then walking, as I got closer to my object of choice I would pick a new object to run to - BEFORE I reached the original object. Make sense? All I know is that it made my run so much easier last night - Saturday I had gotten really sick while running and was worried that last night would be the same. I am happy to report that for me, I have a new way to run and get through the hard parts (I even ran up TWO small hills WITHOUT STOPPING! This is huge for me as I hate hills) and a way to push through my runs. I am very excited to try this theory out again in the near future and hopefully use it in longer distance runs as I get more in shape.

Also - just a random fact about last night's run. After it was finished, Soldier Boy and I were stretching in the parking lot and all of a sudden fireworks started going off. It was a great way to celebrate the end of a great run for us and we chilled out on the grass for a bit before heading back to my place. :o) Good times.