Monday, July 1, 2013

What I said was....

...that no matter what I'd run (or run/walk) 6 miles today. Sounded so awesome last night after reading tweet after tweet from all the runners I follow. Now it sounds foolish. But it's JUST 6 miles, right?? I mean really. If I have to walk half of it, whatever, right? Walk half of it?! Listen to me. I remember when I'd say "6 miles? Oooh yay, easy run today!" Where did this girl go? I must find her. In the meantime, it does me no good to beat this other chick up known as the current me.

Besides, I have a 10k in a few weeks. And we're not even talking about the half marathon...I might give my bib away. Let me think about that. Anyway...I'll report back here about my run this morning. Do I go to the lakefront? Or should I try something totally different?

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I ended up driving down to Addison, parked just west of the Drive, and walked under the underpass to the lakefront path just south of the softball fields and tennis courts. While sitting in the car I'd made a quick and dirty playlist with zero thought into transition from song to song. I got to running and felt like my legs were weighted down with cinder blocks, but I kept moving, determined to run a full mile before my first walk break. Much to my surprise, I hit the one mile mark and the British lady's voice on my SportsTracker app informed me that I was under 11:00. Alright, alright! I took a short walk break "up to that lightpost ahead" and started running again, walking at British chick's announcement of Mile 2. Shortly before Mile 3 I saw a woman running with a mechanical leg. (that ALWAYS amazes me when I see that. THAT is pure determination on display.) I turned around and instantly felt the wind. Holy crap...is this why my first 3 miles were fairly easy and well under a 12:00 pace? It was wearing me down. For the remaining three I started to run/walk more often. I ended my run with the last song on my crude, last minute playlist, and repeated it a bit: "reclaim my place" by Korn. It's a total badass song, and one of my favorite to run to when I'm struggling.

Here's what I listened to today, in case you're interested. A teensy bit eclectic: Crazy Tom, from the Talented Mr. Ripley soundtrack; Orange Colored Sky (Nat King Cole); L-O-V-E (Nat King Cole); Thunderstruck (by the same name)--reminds me of the White Sox team intro the year after they won the World Series; Beautiful Day--(U2); One (U2); Feel So Close (Calvin Harris); Thrift Shop (Macklemore); N----- in Paris (Jay Z/Kanye West); Starships (Nikki Minaj); Baba O'Riley (The Who); Firework (Katy Perry); We Found Love (Rihanna/Calvin Harris); Remember the Time (Michael Jackson); More than a Feeling (Boston); and Reclaim my Place (Korn). All over the map.

Anyway, 6 miles, 1:14:39, a 12:26 pace which is ok for having run/walked. Felt much like a "redemption run." I can get back on track from here, and if I can run 6 miles with very few runs in the last 5 weeks or so, I can do better and get myself on track.

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