Runner's High?

Wow!  How in the heck is it May 1st already?  Today, my lovely friends, I am officially off my cleanse.  I think we all know what that means:

Yup, coffee is back in the game!  And I do have to say, my darling coffee, that these last 30 days without you were terrible.  Welcome back, blessed friend.

Not only do I have coffee back, but I have a jam-packed month.  Yeah, I say that every month.  It does not change the fact that it's true.  Starting off the month my school semester ends, then I have the 5k.  After that is mother's day with both of our moms, I start bike training, then the summer term starts up.  Whew.  I think I'll need another coffee.

Too keep myself on track (and sane!) this month, there are a few things I want to focus on.  The first thing I want to focus on is not obsessing about how my body looks.  It is strong, it is healthy, and it is getting stuff done.  Why am I so obsessed with changing it to fit someone else's standard?  To that end, I am cutting down on my scale privileges to Sundays only.  I tend to judge myself entirely on the number on the scale, not be any other standard, and that probably needs to stop.  I am also starting once a month body measurements.  Not to obsess over, but rather to give me proof that I'm improving, even if my weight is not changing.

Also in May, I really want to focus on finding constructive ways to fill my time between the two school terms.  As much fun as Twitter, Pinterest, and reading blogs is, there are so many other ways I can be spending my time, and I need to be cognizant of that.

So a funny thing happened in April (worst transition ever, but we're gonna roll with it).  Somewhere around week 3 or 4 of my training plan, A started commenting that my legs were starting to tone up from all of the running.  By the last week of April, my pants were noticeably more loose.  But the most remarkable change this month was mental.  For the first time in my life, I started to see myself as a runner.  I have seen myself as an athlete before.  A swimmer.  A cyclist.  A rock climber.  But even in the past, when I was running to cross train, or running in order to avoid being kicked out of Air Force ROTC, I never bought into the idea that I was a runner.  It stopped me dead in my tracks when I realized that I was thinking about running outside of training and blogging about it.  It startled me when I realized that I was starting to look forward to those 4 day/week runs.  I really couldn't believe it when I sought out a running book at Barnes & Noble on Saturday.

How did this happen?  How in the world has running become a "thing" for me?  Honestly, I think it is the fact that it may be the only thing in the world that effectively slims my legs.  I have big birthin' hips and thunder thighs.  My thighs and calves get accentuated by cycling.  Swimming tones me up, but doesn't make me lean.  Weight lifting does the same as swimming.  Nothing else has done this.  Is it a great reason to love running?  Probably not.  But I'm going with it. 

Did anything surprise you in April?  What are your plans for dominating May?  I can't wait to hear what you have going on!