Running, Day Four.

I drug The Brother on another run today. He had a very hard time with the "run" part of running today, but he TRIED. That is the most important thing.

It was day one of week two, so the length of the running sections of the app increased to 90 seconds from 60 seconds. I kept up. Somehow. But here's the thing. This app, which I love, told me what the halfway point was on my last three runs. Each time, the lady said, "You're halfway done." I would then turn around and go in the opposite direction on the trail, so that I can make it back to where I started during the other half of the run.

But this time. This time.

The lady did not say, "You're halfway done." She did not say anything but "Begin running," and "Begin walking." And when I finally broke down and looked at my phone to see what progress I'd made, I saw that I'd done 25 minutes of a 31 minute workout, meaning that I was very nearly finished. And so I just kept going. Why turn around then, I thought, when I could keep going and look at the trail marker to see exactly what distance I was going.

And when I was a mere two minutes away from finishing the cool down section of the app, I took this humiliating picture with my phone. It is a terrible picture taken by someone who does not take pictures of herself ever, because human arms are not made to take pictures of said human's own face. It just doesn't work. I am too old for this particular craze.

What is up with my arm, anyway? My shoulder looks like it belongs on an alien.

I only took this picture to send it to Dad to drive home the fact that I made it two miles. After I took the picture, I proceeded to the sign I saw a bit further down the trail only to find that the trail crossed a road. So then I said, "IT IS A SIGN THAT I SHOULD TURN AROUND." The Brother had caught up by then, and he agreed. I am pretty sure he was already dead at this point.

On the 2+ mile walk back to the trailhead, The Brother and I saw three deer, a squirrel that was angry we disturbed its lunch, and many birds. Also many small insects. Also many people on bicycles, some of which were weird lying-down bicycles that were actually pretty cool to look at, although I think you'd get neck pain from riding on them.

And when I got home, I took of my shoe and discovered running had given me a blister. I am so proud. This is a badge of honor. Real runners get blisters. This happens to people who run a LOT. I think maybe it happened to me because I switched shoes. Or because I was wearing a different sort of sock. One of the two. But I am still proud.