Hooray! I ran up a hill...

First of all, at the risk of sounding repetitive, I did not wanna run today! I didn't run yesterday and that was fine, but first thing this morning as I was slouching on the couch drinking my coffee, I started thinking up reasons why I wasn't going to run today:
- It's cold and it might rain
- I have too much to do today/I won't have time
- My stomach hurts
- I am so bored of that damn trail
- I'll run tomorrow, I promise

As the day wore on and I got through my various chores, I started giving myself pep talks - and since the sun was now out, my stomach felt fine, and I was pretty much done with my To Do list, all that was left was a sudden, huge aversion to the trail. So I just headed out my front door.

I live on a rural road with not a lot of traffic, but the cars that come through take the liberty of driving 60-70 mph since there’s not much to look out for (well, dogs and deer and turkey and the occasional child on bike, but whatever). Also, the road has a pretty significant crown, which is very noticeable and very uncomfortable. For these reasons I don’t think much about running on my own road but today it was that or forget it. Starting right out, there are 2 small inclines (bumps in the road for most people but tough for me) so my warm up felt very strenuous. After about 5 minutes I looked for a place to stretch and there really wasn’t a good spot as the culverts and fields have not been mowed yet and are very overgrown. I tried stretching my calves against a Stop sign but nearly tipped it over, so I just took off at that point.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my running/walking intervals and how I have been so focused on increasing my running time but doing nothing about decreasing my walking time, so today I thought I would try doing the 7 minute runs with a 30 second walk break rather than a full minute. Ya know, that worked out really good for me! The first 7 minutes was kind of hard even though it was mostly a gradual downhill and, of course, the 30 seconds didn’t feel like nearly enough but I started off again when my alarm went off. Only this time I was going back up that “gradual downhill.” It’s an easy going slope of about 1/4 - 1/3 mile, and the steepest piece being towards the top. There was a point when my mind started thinking “I can’t breath” and started to panic a little but I kept trudging along and trying to measure and control my breathing and then it was flat and I’d done it. I know I’m making it sound like I climbed Mt. Marcy but with all my time spent on a flat trail, this was a big (and necessary) difference. So here’s the really cool part – I finished out that 7 minutes, did my 30 second rest, then started off on my 3rd rep – and it felt great! I ran the 7, ran through the 30 second rest, and then ran another 5 minutes before I came upon my driveway. I felt I could have done a little more but I hadn’t stretched and I was on pavement for the first time – I was not hurting at all and I wanted to keep it that way. Boy, it felt great – it felt like there actually will come a time when I will be able to shitcan these walking periods altogether! I took a looooooong time for stretching afterwards and I can’t say I’m aching at all so even though I did less distance, maybe I did the right amount for what I did.

Encouraged...

An acquaintance of mine has been talking in my ear that I could do a 5K sooner than my planned June 26th Ramble . There is a local one that supports a tiny little art center near where I work that is on June 5th and I’m wondering if I will be ready for it. I’m not worried about how much time it takes me but I really want to be able to finish it all running, no walk breaks. Is 3 weeks enough? Dunno, but I think I’m gonna register anyway and try to make it so.