My 6 Favorite Running Problems

Running has always been my “thing”. I’ve been running for about 11 years but I've kept the relationship very casual. I’ve run countless 5ks, a few 10ks, and 3 half marathons.  I’ll sign up for a race here and there but I’ve never trained for any of them and my run times have always been around the same.  It’s more of a stress reliever for me and I don’t necessarily look at it as a workout or exercise. Its free, it’s always available, and it’s one of my favorite things to do.

I told the hubs about a free race we should do on Sunday, but we didn't get up in time to get out the door and there at 7:30a.m. BOO. Now that some cooler weather (like not in the 90s) is coming, I’m looking into signing us up for a half marathon to do before the end of the year. Now it’s deciding which one to sign up for.

I know I’m in a small group on this one but I absolutely hate Disney races. LOVE Disney….HATE their races. Maybe we just had a bad experience, but we ran the Epcot Food & Wine Half Marathon in 2012, and it was by far the worst race I’ve ever done. There were some cool things about it, like running through the theme parks that were all decorated with Christmas lights, but the majority of the race was spent on dark highways around the Disney property. Super boring most of the time and I swore I was about to go into labor (I wasn’t even pregnant at the time).  Total Body Shut Down.

My 6 Favorite Running Problems.

1. The first half mile of any run. More like the worst half mile in history of miles! You’re beating yourself the entire time and it takes a lot out of you to not turn around and sit back on the couch. Why am I doing this? My stomach hurts. Blah Blah. But you just keep running and by mile 2 you've forgotten all your problems and you’re officially in the running “zone”.

2. Death trap sidewalks. These might be the single reason I never picked up skateboarding. Horrifying. If you’re an early morning runner or a late night runner, beware of these! Miss a step and you end up with bloody knees and hands. 

3. Lizards. You realize you care way too much about animals when doing the salsa dance trying not to step on the dare devil lizards who just so happen to want to cross the sidewalk at the exact same moment you run by. If you’re not careful, you’ll kill an entire village of lizards during a single run.

4. Pine cones or other things that fall off trees. These little pine cones look so innocent don’t they? You usually channel your inner Christian Ronaldo and do an awesome soccer kick to each one, but sometimes they bounce off the edge of the grass, come back, sneak under your foot and basically try to kill you! Many ankles have been sprained due to these ricocheting beasts of nature. 

5. Your phone/ipod dies. This may be the worst thing to happen to you while running. I mean besides breaking a leg or accidently running off a cliff…That moment when your music stops and all of a sudden you snap back to reality…ekkkk {insert face of pure horror}. First World Problem, but problem none the less.

6. Hills that you never thought existed. You don’t realize a hill exists until your running. You drive these streets all the time and never once thought about one of them being a hill. Well, when you’re running and not in your air conditioned motorized vehicle, a little slant of a road can feel like you’re climbing Mount Everest. Maybe not that extreme, but you get the idea. Calf workout

 Do any of you have these problems? I hope I'm not the only one :) 

**While I took pictures for this post I totally felt like Jim Carey in Yes Man doing Running Photography. See Clip Here 

XOXO