NEGATIVE SPLITS!!

I don't know how it happened, and I'm still not sure I completely believe it...but according to my trusty Garmin, I achieved negative splits today!!

It was one of those mornings that didn't start out well.  I knew I was in a pretty foul mood as I was driving to the trails to meet Daisy...but I was determined not to let it get me down.  There was no particular reason for the way I was feeling, but it felt like a dark cloud of smoke fogging up my head.  When we started running I told her I knew I had made a mistake taking two full days off because I was feeling really tight.

We chatted a bit and after about 3/4s of a mile I was really worried I would need to stop.  I told her my legs were not feeling good at all.  She encouraged me to give it a mile.  Just after the one mile mark, I had to stop and stretch, hoping that would help.  When we started up again, it seemed a little better, but I kept thinking, "If I make it through this run, it will be a MIRACLE!"

Just after mile two, I told her I was still really hurting so she suggested we walk just a bit. About a minute later I determined walking hurt worse than running, so we started up again.  We talked about various things, but the whole time in the back of my mind I wondered how bad it would be for me to tell her I just couldn't hang and that I was going to have to call it a "hike".  But, my breathing was great, and it didn't feel like an injury kind of pain so I just couldn't bear to stop running....not for my sake mind you, but for hers!  I REALLY enjoy running with Daisy.  I feel like if I don't get my act together and stop all the walking I feel like I have to do, she might find someone better to run with.  (Well, I guess that IS for my sake, huh!  :D)

Anyway...we made it to the really crappy section of the trail and I let the conversation take me away from the scene of the torture.  Just past that section Daisy told me we had reached her favorite part of the trail.  ((The picture isn't that part of the trail, but it's somewhat similar.))  The whole time we were talking about how beautiful it was all I could think was the "six minute" stretch was coming up....and I just didn't know if I was going to make it or not.

As we made it out to the pavement, I decided to try to "stretch out my legs" a bit, taking Daisy's advice from a couple of runs back.  We chatted on.  As we neared the "little incline", she told me today's run hadn't felt good to her at all.  I couldn't believe it!  I told her she seemed to do much better than I with powering through.

As she was telling me the way she sees it she can either not run and feel bad, or run knowing that as soon as it's over she will surely feel better...even though it's sometimes very hard to get through it, the knowledge that relief is just a short distance away.....I realized that I had indeed powered through not feeling good.  I had stopped to stretch, and I had taken a 60 second walk break, but I had kept on running despite feeling like I wanted to quit.  When we reached the incline, I sped up and surged up to the "finish".

Shockingly enough....when I uploaded the data, I found out the first mile's average pace was 12:22, second 11:27, third 11:08, and the last .45's pace was 10:08.  FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!!



To top off what ended up being a pretty darn good run...I went and did Hard Body's ab class-continuing to work my butt on! Then, after showering, I got an early birthday present from Speedy--a bottle of fantastic smelling fragrance and a gluten free, vegan cupcake that tasted out of this world!! Then, after I got to run with my NOBO group, I found out my son, who just started playing football this year (his senior year), not only got moved up to first string defense, he was also named DEFENSIVE PLAYER of the game for last Friday night!! WOOO HOO!!! And, it's not even my birthday yet!! (That's tomorrow!!)

Thanks for stopping in, come again soon!
:D