Sunday, April 22, 2007

Can I brag for a moment?

After yesterday's Most-of-a-triathlon, I was utterly exhausted mentally and physically. But my husband, who is running in the Sharon Classic 5 mile race in 2 weeks (as am I) wanted to check out the course. I felt OK this morning so arranged for a babysitter to watch the kids this evening while we went out for a run - my first at this distance. I drove around it first, leaving coolers with water, sports drink and gu every 2 miles, along with goofy handwritten signs reassuring anyone who happened to find them that there was nothing dangerous inside and that we'd be sure to pick them up! When we started I was convinced I wouldn't be able to go far - my legs felt drained of energy, my feet hurt and my heartrate immediately zoomed to near the danger zone. Plus it was hot, the sun was beating down (nice problem to have, I know) and my head was throbbing. Complain complain. I stopped to walk briefly on a few hills and at our water stops, but then kept going - and got that fabled, but never before experienced, second wind, or even a runner's high - I ran the whole last mile, and more, without stopping til just before the end on a steep uphill. By my measure, it was at mile 4.9 when I finally started walking for good, and I ran at least 80% of that, maybe more. And that's FAR longer than I'd ever run in my life before. I'm quite sure that if I hadn't exercised for two hours yesterday, I'd have done it faster and better today. My time was 1 hour, 8 minutes, which is about a 13 minute mile - slow, very slow, but I think I can do an hour flat for the race (12 minute miles) - that's my new goal!

4 comments:

LBTEPA said...

Hi! I found a link to your site from your comment on geekgirls's page
Good luck for your race - I know you will find a lot of support in blog-world, so keep on posting and enjoy your training :) It may seem slow to you but it's faster than everyone lolling on the couch doing nothing :)

Herself, the GeekGirl said...

Hey, Jenny. Good luck. If you get discouraged, read some of my earlier posts. There are links on the right. When I started, I couldn't run 100 steps. You're doing great!

KrissyGo! said...

Hi Jenny,
I, too, found you by way of Athena Diaries. Keep it up -- the two previous comments pretty much sum it up. I just wanted to let you know there's another person out there rooting for you!

RUTH said...

You deserve a brag, you've worked so hard. Keep it up Jenny!!