My left calf has been screaming, I haven't done the full mileage of the plan for the past two weeks (because of the argument I've been having with my leg), my usual running partner wasn't there, and I got very fitful sleep Friday night after finding out earlier in the day I have something lurking around in my right boob. ((Yes, I did just say that. You can read that story, here.)) As if all that weren't enough...we found termites in our master closet Friday night!! (We do have a termite bond-repairs and treatment both, but it's still a PAIN!!)
So I didn't think I was going to be able to complete the full five miles, let alone run the 8/1 intervals on the plan.
When we started, I was the only run/walker....yea me, right? As soon as we started out my left calf started whining. I dug down and by 8 minutes I felt like I could keep running....but only did for about 30 seconds. I went ahead and walked for a minute....the whole time dreading starting up running again-out of fear. It seems that in the first mile or so it's hard to run after a walk interval. So hard in fact I decided not to take the next walk interval and ran 12 minutes before taking a recovery minute walk. As I feared, when I started back running, my left leg felt like it was breaking!
I managed to start up again until we got to the bottom of a little hill...instead of running, I power walked up it and used the energy I "saved" to catch up to a couple of women just in front of me...until we reached the "real" hill in this run. We all walked up.....and then I ran the whole rest of the way (30 minutes!!!).
I had passed a woman in my group whom I have NEVER even been close to catching. I was feeling all cocky and proud...until she caught up with me at the very end. I couldn't leave well enough alone and thought if I pushed I could still "beat" her (as if it were a race?!)....but, no, she smoked me by at least a couple of seconds!! She said it was hard, but she sure did make it look easy!!
At one point when I realized I had been running for 20 minutes straight, and was FINALLY not the last one in the group...I just started crying! I know, what a pansy, right? Hey, what can I say?? I'm a GIRL!!
Okay, I'll tell you the funniest part of the whole thing...after it was over, I proudly exclaimed that I had run 5 miles in an hour---making my pace TEN MINUTE MILES!!! I was almost jumping up and down with glee. The one to finally burst my math-challenged timing?? My loving husband. He was really sweet when I called to tell him how well I'd done and told me how proud he was of my accomplishment. Then he asked me again what my time was....and then reminded me that 60 minutes divided by 5 miles would work out to 12 minute miles. It was funny after I stopped beating myself up for making such a stupid mistake!!!
I running a 5K race Saturday. I'm not going to set a time goal...just a goal to run the whole way. I was looking at the race results from the last race and remembered a few things....
- I RAN THE WHOLE WAY (it was only about a 3K)
- My pace ended up being a WHOPPING 10:26 (shocking)
- Did I mention I RAN THE WHOLE WAY?!!
- I came in 4th in my age group (although I found out later there were only ...FOUR in my age group there!! (That's okay.....)
- I wasn't last!
Thanks for stopping in, come again soon!!
:D
Good luck on the 5k race. I like the few things you remembered and you are not alone: I came in 1st in my age group and I became half marathon "national champ of the port operators". How many runners in my age group? Only the Black Knight. I didn't imagine to win (I ran among more than 1000 participants) and after the arrival I left for home. The day after I received a call "plase come here that we have to give you the prizes: hardwares, food, clothes...". Yes I was the 2006 italian champion!
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