But I could be doing so many other things! what if I hurt myself? what if something happens to Zack while I'm gone?
Those were the excuses rolling around in my head. I was trying to get out of the longest run I have ever done in my whole running career (less than 2 years). 8 miles. EIGHT miles. eight MILES.I'm pretty sure the furthest I've gone was 7 and I nearly died. Thank goodness Sarah was there to push me through the "giving up" laps. Thank you Sarah!
I ate breakfast and convinced myself that i had to wait at least and hour to let the food settle. Then that hour turned into an hour and a half. then I finally got dressed. and then after dragging out my warming up and stretching for 30 more minutes, Zack finally convinced me to get going. He said it would take me 3 hours to finish. 3 hours? He thinks it will take me 3 hours to run 8 miles. HA! I'm suppose to run 13.1 in less than 3 hours! oh little faith does my husband have in me at times. I know it takes me and hour to run 5 miles on the treadmill but there's no way I would take 3 hours to run 8. ( Later I found out that Zack was just joking. he knew I wouldn't take 3 hours to run that far).
It was time to hit the road. Jimmy, Justin, Linkin Park, Blink 182- they all decided to join me on the run because I guess they knew I needed the extra motivation. Dashboard came along for a bit but they didn't stay too long- they had a show or something to go to.
It didn't take long for me to break a sweat. somewhere around 1/2 a mile? well that's because it was up hill. what a long hill. great way to start the run. I knew this loop would have a lot of uphill/downhill variety so it would require me to work hard.
I think I was particularly nervous because when I run it's indoors on a treadmill and I stay at the same pace generally. a steady 5.6 or 5.7 with a 2.5% grade incline. now these hills I was doing were NOT 2.5%. they were more like in the range of 8% to 10% incline. and they were LONG hills. but the happy thought that kept me trudging up the hills was knowing that they had to go down sometime! and oh boy did they go down! It was like jumping in a cool lake after working in 120 degree weather all day! My legs were so please to finally get a break and to just enjoy the view for 3/4 of a mile.
It's nice to have other runners on the road. It's quite inspiring. You have runners of all levels out there pounding pavement. some are so focused and you know they are judging your form and technique. Others are just trying to make it up the hill and you're pretty convinced they are going to pass out. It's interesting coming across different runners running in the opposite direction. You can see each other several yards away. you know you're going to cross paths. Do you wave? smile? nod? try to trip them? I don't know! usually it's last minute you notice out of the corner of your eye that they waved and then it's too late! you missed your chance to wave back and they probably think you're a jerk. Great. I blew it! I totally blew it. what if I ruined her run?
When I come to someone who gives me an uneasy feeling. I look them directly in the eye, let them know that I see them, run hard, and try as hard as I can to not look tired. Let them know that I will not go without a fight. It has worked every time. No one ever tries to mess with me! Or maybe it's because none of those pedestrians had any intention of making any sort of funny business and I judge too quickly. Well I'm going with my first theory.
When I made it to the half way mark of my run I couldn't help but smile out loud. I had to climb the steepest hill yet to get to this point and I hadn't even stopped to walk any of it! WOW. I shot a text to my hubby to let him know that I didn't die and that I'm half way through. Under an hour.
I turned around. Downhill I come! This time I decided to take a different route back. A change of scenery. Maybe a harder course? It was through a cute little neighborhood. Less college students more retired couples with little dogs yelping through screened doors as I passed. It was when I past by the Provo Temple that I saw it. A sign that announced the coming of a marathon to Provo, UT. I could see the headlines now "Local Girl Runs first Half Marathon, Three weeks later Completes her first Full Marathon!"
My half marathon I'm training for is April 16th. This race is May 7th. At this point in my run I am at 6 miles. I feel as though I could conquer the world! I could run 26 miles right now! no problem. It's the last .2 mile that would kill me. I better just take it one event at a time. 13.1 mile is fine for now.
I always feel disrespectful listening to music as I pass the temple and the MTC. So I planned to turn it off just until I past the light. that would be a good distance away so that no one could hear the beats from my headphones. I got lost in thought though. I was coming up with all these ways that Zack and I will be able to save more money in the spring and summer. Stupid winter. it ruins everything. Luckily it's warm outside today. In the summer I'm going to bike to work I decided. that's an extra $11.25 a week. And with the possibility of bus fares going up in March- an extra $12.50 a week which turns into $50 a month! wow that gets exciting.
And then, I'm going to stop using the dryer and just hang all my clothes outside to dry in the clean air. I'm getting a head of myself. that would be a lot of effort. We'll see if that happens.
Before I know it. I'm jogging up our drive way.
Holy sleazy tacos. Did I really just run 8 miles? No. I ran 8.29 miles. At least that's what mapmyrun.com told me.
and whats better is that I ran it in 1 hour and 34 minutes. I know, I know, it's slow. But I finished it okay? that's what matters right now. I still have 2 months to speed up.
A nice long stretch and ice to my knee sounds so pleasant to my soul right now. I stopped at the bottom of my stairs and waited for it to sink in what I had actually accomplished. Zack would be so happy to know that I didn't even walk anything. The only time I stopped was a traffic lights and it was never more than a minute.
I want to run 8 miles every day now. Just because I can.
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