September 1st? Seriously? My goal for September is to run 6 miles, non-stop. What is your goal for the month?
This morning, I had a new running partner. Not knowing much about my new partner’s running style, I was at first suspicious if she could even keep up with my pace. Not that my pace is super fast, but is more of a casual, very short distance runner. So, after my ritual routine of stretching, we start out at exactly 5:05 am. I have been incredibly frustrated lately with my lack of endurance and haven’t been able to run more than a mile or 2 without stopping…at least since July, before my GAD was rendered entirely useless. (See previous post for acronym definition – I’m thinking of trademarking it.) It’s been so frustrating to be going (what seems like) backwards with my running…meaning I’m getting slower and able to run less distance. With our Love Your Body 5/10K looming in less than 6 weeks, I’ve been feeling more than a little bit of stress and anxiety about it. Well, that and about a hundred other things. Usually, I warm-up, do a little running and am often sidelined with side cramps, shin splints, and toes and feet that are so numb, they feel like cinder blocks in my running shoes. Usually, my self affirmations sound something like this: “I can’t make it….I know I can’t get as far as I want to, so I might as well stop here…Damn my feet hurt….Why is it again that I torture myself?” Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t say this in a self-loathing tone. It’s more of self doubt that creeps in and distracts me from my goal, because after all, it’s easier to quit running with some sort of physical ailment than it is to just keep on going. After taking my usual fistful of essential vitamins, minerals, and supplements (it’s impressive how many I can swallow at a time) and a 5-Hour Energy Shot (which I haven’t been taking), my partner and I were well into our .5 mile warm-up and out of our subdivision. And at that, our jog started with no discussion, no inner self-doubt. I just announced, “We’re going to run now, and we’re not going to stop until we hit the traffic light.” And that we did. She managed to keep up with me and we paced each other the entire stretch to the first traffic light. Ironically, we caught the traffic light (which NEVER happens), so we kept on running. Past the telephone pole which is usually my first resting interval, over the first cross street, up the first of 3 small rolling hills, over the next cross street. Impressed with both of us, we kept pushing through all the way to the first turning corner. Instead of self doubt, I heard “You totally have this, girl. You are not stopping and you are NOT going to let her outrun you.”
Down the hill we went, which stretches approximately a mile to the next traffic light. My standard operating procedure is to turn the corner and walk until I am on the far side of the little strip of stores across the street. Today, we kept running. This was some seriously good stuff! Usually when I run in the early mornings, I leave around 5 AM and by the time I get two-thirds through my route, the sun is just rising above the Wasatch Mountains to the east. I take this route specifically to see this spectacular view – it’s one of my favorite things about living here – it’s so beautiful. Today, I hit my usual spot for the best vantage point, and guess what? It was still dark! Ha! I beat the freaking sun, which ultimately means that I am killing it for a personal record speed, although my partner didn't seem impressed in the least. She is really bringing out my competitive nature. Finally, it occurs to me that it is now September, the days are shorter, and the sun comes up later (and will continue to) than it did in July and I curse out loud to my partner. She is now starting to struggle a little bit and can’t keep my pace, which I’m thinking was probably about a 6 or 6.5 mph pace. (My fabulous FREE running shoes are not NikeFit compatible so I’ll never really know for sure.) My breath is slow and steady, yet hers is getting a little shallower with every few steps. A guy runs past us on the other side of the street and she expresses her distain, apparently of other early morning runners. But I am nearly oblivious to her complaints and we keep pushing through. Basically, by now, I’m in shock at how far I’ve run, so I’m just in it to win it at this point. I tell her we just need to get to the next corner and we’ll walk from there. At that moment, I realize the guy who ran past us on the other side of the street is now running behind us on the same side that we are on, but not faster than our pace. It was weird and still dark outside and if he’d attacked us I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what color his shirt was, let alone give a physical description. Seriously, not to toot my horn, but we ran and we ran fast. I never looked around again to see if he was still behind us. Creepy Running Guy in the Dark was as scary in my own mind as the Random Residential Roaming Mountain Lion I always think is going to attack me from behind, drag me into a revine (of which there are NONE on my route) and eat me on one of these early mornings. (Thanks, Dad, for telling me about the cougar you saw on Canyon Road in Springville. Now I’m neurotic!)
We’re at Harmon’s. Again, because we really want to take a break, we ironically catch the traffic light and continue to run past Harmon’s, past Taco Time, past H&R block…..you’ve got to be kidding me…..now I’m running up the Harmon’s hill. I feel fabulous, but my partner desperately needes to catch her breath. So I concede and we walk up the .5 miles of the Harmon’s hill and turn the corner back into our subdivision. Revived, although only briefly, we run down to the last street and our goal is only to get past the park and to the stop sign. Only then would I submit to stopping. We did it! I’m certain she hates me, although she never verbalizes it. She doesn’t know it, but she’s running that route again on Friday, only this time, she’s going to have to try to keep up. She’s also going to have to crap in my yard BEFORE we leave the house because I will never again carry a doggie-poop bag in each hand for a 5 mile run. Lay off the fiber bars, Daisy – you’re killing me!
