Sunday morning, 7:15 am, a light breeze and deer strides in my mind rocked my 3 miles today! I have been running for over a month now and it was time to begin lengthening my stride. Being of shorter statue my natural stride is rather short. I have to concentrate on pushing my legs out farther, when I run, to lengthen my stride. What works for me is quite amusing, I picture a deer in my mind prancing through the woods and try to mimic this motion. Quirky as it sounds, it works for me. I actually put more of a leap in my step also to help me jump into a longer stride. If you tend to have a shorter stride, try this exercise of imagining a deer running in the woods or field. You may be surprised that it helps you too! It’s worth a try anyway, right?

My time today, with doing my deer exercise, really shocked me! I cut off 4 minutes from last 3 mile run a few days ago. I was very pleased to see less time! When you feel like your legs are getting stronger, than when you first started running, it is time to push it faster and longer.  I find it’s good to work on that one at a time. I will work on speed one day and then on other days, not worry about my speed but concentrate on endurance and try to go farther.

My next time out I am going to try and push it for 3.5 miles or 4 miles, if I am having a great day. I am handling the 3 miles pretty well now, so now it’s time for change.  Keep exercising and keep pushing yourself. Remember, the harder you push yourself physically, the better you will feel mentally.