Running - It's something I do because I hate it / love it

If I told you that I absolutely love running, it certainly wouldn't be the whole truth....

I started running a few months ago as a way to add some exercise to my routine and to help me to keep off the weight that I just lost.  Although I used to run "the mile" in high school, I never considered myself a runner because I would always "expire" at one mile and nearly drop dead if I took one additional step over that distance.  That is to say that my body knew exactly how far a mile was and when to shut down.  When I started running, I decided to take it slow - very slow.  I would go jogging with Emmie (9 years old) and to my surprise, the slower pace made a big difference in how far I could go.  Within a few weeks, Emmie and I were running about 2 miles, three times a week.  Over the last several months, I have gradually increased my distance to where I am preparing to run my first 10K in a few weeks.  I have been pushing myself pretty hard as I wanted to finish in under an hour (yes, I know that's still pretty slow - but it's great for me).  Over the last two weeks, I started to develop Achilles tendinitis. This started as a small pull in my left calf and turned into something that made me rest it for a week.  I am now starting to test it again with very slow three mile running loops, three times a week.  Tonight's run went well, no pain at all after doing my new, extended warm up routine.

Let me know if any of you have any warm up or stretching tips.  Like I said, I'm seriously new to running - I'm running without a clue.

Why do I run?  Keeping the weight off is part of it and being more healthy for my family is certainly another big part.  Yet there are still times in almost every run where by body is yelling "STOP - STOP - STOP" and for some strange reason, I push on.........I guess that reason is that I want to be able to say "I did it / I'm doing it / I'm stronger than the STOP inside of me" - I guess a different way of saying it is that I do it to keep a challenge in front of me that is different from all of the other challenges in my life.  Something that I alone control.   Besides, once in a while.........it's fun.