'(Some sort of) stronger' from Lisa

Kim and I had a pretty good run on Friday. After almost trying to convince each other that we didn’t really want to run, we ran a 2.5 mile course around New Baltimore and felt pretty good afterward. I always secretly think if one of us were to say they didn’t want to run anymore, the other would be okay with it, but we’re both too afraid to say we don’t want to run.
There are days when I just don’t want to do it and my mind says something along the lines of, “Listen, you don’t want to be out in the cold, jogging. You want to go to Starbucks and have a mocha.” Which would be really nice, but then I have to remember that I do actually feel really good after I run and that I do have a goal that I want to accomplish. I’m not saying I still don’t have a chip on my shoulder while running, but I think I want to accomplish the goal more than I don’t want to.
I really am pleased and amazed by the progress Kim and I have made. There really is something to be said for actually following through with a plan. I mean, it’s logical to think that by sticking with it and gradually increasing the distance we’d make some progress, but it’s still to me a little bit amazing, that I can say I’ll run a little more each week, and I do, and my body accepts it. My big problem when we started was that my shins would get really tight about a half mile in, despite stretching, and by the end of the run I felt like I didn’t even have full range of motion. Now I’m doing 2.5 miles with very little or no tightness in my shins.
It makes me wonder if we’re getting (some sort of) stronger or possibly even a little bit ‘in shape.’
Of course, we’re slow and everybody knows that. We never promised to be fast – just to finish. A few weeks ago, we were running and I made Kim cross the street because we were coming up on a walker and I wanted to be saved the embarrassment of taking about 5 minutes to pass her. (And I’ll go ahead and say this because there was no one else there to verify whether this was true or not, but that woman was a really fast walker.)
For us, a nine-minute mile is fast, and if we were to run three consecutive nine-minute miles in a row it would pretty much wreck us.
I think the natural progression of things will be that we do eventually get faster, but if I do or if I don’t, I’m not really concerned.
I don’t really have anything to prove to anyone but myself, and myself doesn’t really care if I’m fast or not. I just want to finish.