Momentum Monday: Not can you, but will you

This past weekend was my second long run of my training schedule.  The schedule only called for three miles, but I have a 10K race this weekend, so I wanted to get more mileage in to prepare for that.  So on Saturday my friend Danielle and I set out for 5 miles.

We decided to run around Lake Union, it's literally half a block from where she lives so it is very convenient and an easy way to track your mileage.  It is 6 miles around the whole lake, so we can run 5 then walk the last mile as a cool down.

It had been raining the night and morning before we ran so we were a bit concerned that we would be drenched during our run, but that didn't deter us.  We were going to run regardless.  So we set out into the cold, oh and did I mention it was windy?  Oh yes it sure was, burr!!!

The first mile in and I was struggling.  Breathing was out of sync and I just wasn't feeling this run.  By the time we were two miles in my legs were feeling like lead.  I knew that I was going to be pushing myself the whole way to make this run count.  This was not going to be easy.

By the time we were 2.5 miles in, we were hitting hills on the trail, so digging in we got up the hills running.  Then something really wonderful happened around mile 3.  I'd hit the sweet spot.

What's the sweet spot?  It's when everything falls into place and the run becomes natural.  I don't want to say easy because it's not necessarily easy, but it's easier.  The breathing was natural, the strides were comfortable and my body just seemed to go on its own.  I didn't have to push or force myself to move forward, my legs were doing that for me.

The rest of the miles just seemed to fly by and when I got to the end of my mileage, I just wanted to keep going.  But I didn't because that wasn't what I was scheduled for.  It felt great to have that naturalness to my running, getting into that groove and just letting my body go.  It was so freeing and I felt so good the rest of the day!  I'm constantly surprised at what the body will do once you get out of your own way and let it go.

So my Momentume Monday seemed pretty obvious to me when I saw it.  I had fought my way through the beginning of my run, then when I just let go I felt like I could run forever.  So my mantra for this week is:

With how my run had started out, I could have easily thrown in the towel and chalked it up to my body just not wanting to run.  But that would have been the can in me, can I do it?  Since I didn't throw in the towel and I kept going, the will in me came through and let my legs to their thing.

I find that I want to have a reason as to why I'm feeling a certain way and theorize on the can's and can'ts.  However if I let myself go, more times than not my body will do it and be thankful for it later!

Question for you:  Do you let "can't" stop you? What do you do when you're not "feeling" your run, do you stop or keep going?