Today I ran with a good friend. I told her what I had discovered about lengthening my stride, and how this run was going to help prove my theory. We started off at a really good pace–well, she started us off right out of the gate. This run ended up being a 3.15 mile run at an average 10 minutes and 38 seconds per mile–about 2 minutes faster per mile than yesterday! The pace changed everything.
We kept each other going the whole time–no talking, just silently motivating as the path dipped and turned. But this is what was going through my mind… “I need to stop; I can’t do this; is my knee hurting; wait–I can do this; why does my lung want to burst; breath Bethany, breath; focus; here comes another hill–whose idea was this for this route; finally, we are headed back; I CAN do this; already halfway; I have more strength than I realize; don’t stop; how is my knee; do I breath through my nose or my mouth; better close my mouth cause here comes a swarm of bugs; we have GOT to be almost there; this is the final turn; darn it–that was not the final turn; HERE is the final turn; yes; push; almost there; pick it up; I got this; YES–we did it!!!”
So, note to self: Lesson #2 – You can do everything better when you do it with a good friend–iron sharpens iron.
Bethany Conway 
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