I thought this would be a good idea as far as accountability goes. I feel like for the first time since we left El Paso my running is getting to a place where not only am I not ashamed of how I am running, but it has also regained some centrality to my life. To be a good runner you have to think of yourself as a runner. Otherwise you are just someone trying to keep the love handles at bay. So I thought I would post a weekly training schedule, including some brief thoughts on how I ran and what I can improve on moving forward. All of my distances are estimated at this point. Christmas money will bring a new GPS watch and more accurate data.
So, here it goes:
October 13th
No run today, though an eight hour car ride with two small children is an endurance event in its own right. We were in Fort Collins for a friend's wedding and the weekend included almost no exercise, save for the shock to my heart of the first (two or so) Rio margaritas in many years.
October 14th
5 miles, 40 minutes: Back at it on a Monday morning. So strange to be running in such pitch blackness all of the time. Felt rested and fresh after a weekend off. Springy stride, good even pace.
October 15th
4-1/2 miles, 35 minutes: No bathroom break, an anomaly in my early morning runs, allowed me to stretch out a bit farther away from the house. Beautiful weather.
October 16th
No run. Mama worked and I lost the willpower to get out of my comfortable bed at 5 a.m.
October 17th
5 miles, 40 minutes: Cold, cold, cold. First day wearing running tights. Tears in my eyes from the cold. And it wasn't even that cold. It is going to be a long winter.
October 18th
No run. Planned day off to rest for the Saturday long run.
October 19th
2-1/2 hours. 18-19 miles. This was easily the longest run I have done since the 50k I did in May of 2010 which, for those keeping track, was a long damn time ago. In short, I felt fantastic. I left the house at 7 and ran in the dark for nearly an hour until the sun came up. When it did I was several miles east of town and turned south down a dirt road. The sun was rising to my left and to my right was the full moon. It was perfect. Ecstatic. One of those running moments where you don't feel like you are running. I was just running and smiling and singing. Praising God and soaking in the beauty.
Which, unfortunately, didn't last forever. The following paragraph will relate in some anatomical detail the perils of long distance running. Proceed with caution. I haven't worn running tights very often and never for a long run. In El Paso I rarely ran before work because I didn't come home to kids so I would just go after work and it would be warm enough to wear shorts because, desert. On long run weekends it might be cold when I started, but it would be in the 60s by the time I finished. So I just had cold legs for the first hour or so and was comfortable the rest of the time. This past Saturday it was sub-freezing when I started (we got our first snow on Friday) and wouldn't warm up much as I trucked on. So I wore tights, which, again, I had never done for longer than 5 or 6 miles. Being a novice to tights I neglected to wear underwear beneath them, thinking that the elastic would work fine. Fifteen miles later it felt as if someone had taken sandpaper to my nether region. I was about to cry. I stopped on the side of the road in some trees and removed my tights and ran commando with my high school gym shorts the rest of the way. Which didn't help a great deal. The damage had been done. I ran until I was about a mile from home and then walked the rest of the way in awkward duck fashion.
But instead of dwelling on the negative, I will say that despite the third degree burns on my special parts this was the best run I have had in years. I felt great. Even when the injury was apparent I was still smiling. It felt so great to be out there. Before I about curled up in a ball on the trail I was thinking of extending my run to three hours. I never have done that in the past--made a long run longer. A wonderful feeling.
Weekly Totals: 33.5 miles, 265 minutes
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