2.5 miles last night and it Sucked........

   Last night's run was discouraging, I am not going to lie at all. So many things went wrong, I am now wondering if this is good idea... already training for the October Half. So many things are against me right now, and they are not excuses but explanations:

1. I am carrying 15 extra lbs and I am beginning to feel it in my knees, shins and ankle.
2. The 90 degree weather has hit without giving me a chance adapt, the extra lbs make it harder.
3. November 2011 to May 2012, I did not keep up on my RUNNING mileage, this issue could be a too much too soon.
4. I am still recovering from pregnancy and delivery, but my legs.... or mind want to run at my average pace (before pregnancy weight gain), 10:00-10:30 min/mile but my body just doesn't seem ready as the mileage keeps increasing.
5. I want to keep up with Shauna.
6. I stretched before I ran, last year I learned that doesn't really work for me. 

   When we started this May, I was really excited and expecting Shauna and I to improve together, and stay together during training runs and the races. Last night I realized that just isn't going to happen, and I've been kidding myself. Even though Shauna hadn't really been running for a few years, since she became pregnant with Skyler back in.....2005, she was athlete in middle school and high school and her legs and lungs remember. Last night, I was fighting to keep up with her during the first mile, realizing we were hitting around 9:30 min/mile pace and she just kept going. I could tell she was getting competitive with others, and she was finally finding her groove again. Back in high school she easily ran 2.5 miles in 18-19 minutes (not awesome to those elite runners but it is a feat in my eyes. At 1.35 miles my left shin and ankle had finally hit their limit and I had to slow down to a walk, from there the outer part of my left knee began to hurt and I just watched her keep going. My left side began to hurt with a stitch, thankfully I have grown some brain cells during the pregnancy and have learned to listen to my body, otherwise I would probably have tried to keep going and really regretted it. I walked for maybe .2 miles and slowly started up again, ran for about .3 or .4 miles until I had to slow down to a walk again and it was very disappointing , Shauna had turned around and joined me, and we picked up the pace and I took it easy and slow.
   It hurts, it sucks and it is very disheartening. A big part of me is glad I ran, but still discouraged by it. I am a little worried, maybe I should have not started jump start, maybe I should have slowly began by myself and built my base mileage again..... maybe yesterday was just one of those crappy days, from now on I will not stretch before the runs, I will stretch after and throughout the days. I can only hope tomorrow's 2 mile run will not involve so much pain, and I will be icing my knee/s and ankle/s after every run from now on. 

   On a better note, this morning I finally hit 600 Bicycle crunches in once session rather than cutting them in half these last 2 weeks (300 in the morning, 300 at night). Six sets of 100, in between 6 sets of 25 Love Handle Crunches, 6 sets of 12 Oblique Crunches. Today I am going to try for a 2 minute Plank Position, maybe another 2 minute Plank Position at night.