Running - Suffering leads to glory

"Suffering leads to Glory".
 I read this statement on a sign outside a church on my way to the store. I was in week 4 of the Couch 2 5K program at the time. This statement seemed to come right at the moment I needed it. Running, to me, is as much of a mental battle to convince myself I can do it, as it is a physical battle to convince my body I can do it. It has never come easy to me. I have a love/hate relationship with running. I hate doing it, but LOVE how I feel after. Except for a brief time in college when I had trained myself to be able to run for 30 minutes straight, I have always struggled with running. It seems every time I get started on running, something happens that interferes and I stray, and then I have to start over. I am now on week 8 of the program (it's a 9 week program) and I keep asking myself why it isn't getting easier. Then I remember that in week 1 I was running for 1 minute at a time. In week 8 I am running for 28 minutes. Granted every 3-8 minutes I stop briefly for a water or quick catching my breath break (10-20 seconds). Though I wish I could run that 28 minutes straight through without stopping, it IS an improvement and I have to keep telling myself that. Week 9 brings 30 minutes of running, and I don't expect to be able to run the whole time, but I do hope to gradually improve on the length of time I can go without stopping. My goal is to be able to run for 30 minutes with very few breaks if any. I don't have any grand hopes or goals to run 10 miles....or a marathon, but for me, running for 30 minutes is HUGE. I actually feel like I'm almost there. I just have to remember that working through the pain is what is going to get me there, it's not going to be easy....Suffering leads to glory.