Prior to yesterday's run, the longest amount of time spent running was 8-minutes. So the fact that the next run on the training schedule was 3-miles completely blew my mind. I thought for sure that (1) I would not make it and (2) I would die trying. Then I remembered that when I played softball, we started each practice with a 10-minute run. I would not do physical activity between seasons, but I could still do that run. A year and half is a little longer than a few months, but for my insanity I counted it as the same. Therefore, I knew that I could run 10 straight minutes without stopping once to walk/breathe/drink water.
I went into yesterday's run excited, because I obviously wasn't thinking clearly since everyone knows you can't run 3-miles in 10-minutes (well maybe someone can, but that someone is definitely not me). I also skipped Monday's workout, which was also 3-miles, because I had walked almost 6 on Sunday and was wiped out, so I knew I had to complete this yesterday because I had already slacked.
I got out of work at 6pm, but if you had told me it was midnight I would have believed you. It seriously is so dark I can't handle it! Prior to leaving work, I used my handy friend mapmyrun.com to help me find a good 3-mile route near my house. There wasn't one, unless I wanted to run on some sketchy streets, but if you remember last time I think it's best I avoid that option. My other choice was to run up and down the same streets, in which case, I will look like a crazy lost person, and would hate risking my reputation (since so many people know me (I hope you caught that sarcasm)). I have ADD and figured running in the same circle until I got to 3-miles would drive me crazy so I decided to drive to the park near my house.
I forgot that you can only drive in the park while it's light out, so of course the gate was closed, however there are parking spots on the street right next to it, crisis averted. I called a friend of mine who lives in the same neighborhood and had her convince me that even though cars weren't allowed in the park, people still were. She agreed and I went on my way. I noticed many people walking up and down the hill that is normally the car entrance, so I felt safe, even though it was dark. I climbed to the top of the hill where you can see the entire Rochester skyline all lit up. So beautiful. It was then that I noticed that all the people I saw were only on the hill and not at the top. I pretend this doesn't bother me and start to jog along the resevoir at the top. At 0.69 miles it's about 4.5 times around to reach 3-miles. I make it about 0.01-miles before freaking myself out, turning around, sprinting to the start, running down the hill and back into my car. I start yelling at myself, since I mentioned above I had already skipped this run once before, and start driving. I figured that worst case scenario I would drive to good old RIT because the loop around campus is equvalent to a 5K - just over 3-miles (3.1 to be exact), and because I really didn't want to drive twenty minutes out of my way to run I would check out the local schools on the way. I drive past Brighton High School - track is pitch black. Drive past McQuaid High School - track is pitch black. Drive past MCC - no idea if they have a track/if they do where it is. RIT it is.
I get to RIT and remember how I spent the last year of my life in grad school, getting out of classes at 10pm, and swerving to avoid runners -even when they were on sidewalks and I was in the street. I get scared easily, I'm sorry. So of course I freak myself out, and decide to run on the track there instead. I contemplated running on a treadmill, but then realized that even though I still have an ID card, I am not a student, and I can no longer use the gym for free - unless I know who's working, and unfortunately I didn't know the girl.
Since I had done a little run at the park before driving there, I felt no need for a warm-up lap. I stretched myself out and got at it. The track is 4x around per mile and I didn't have anyone with me to count my laps so I decided I would change directions after each mile so that I only had to pay attention until I got to 4 instead of 12 - turns out, best idea. Also - remember earlier in this post when I said that I had ADD and didn't want to run in the same circles, I obviously wasn't thinking clearly again.
The first mile was a piece of cake. I was feeling my music, I was going at a good pace, everything was great. The second mile starts and I get a little tired, feel a cramp coming, wanted to vomit. The third mile, I feel great again. I know I'm almost finished and get excited. That was the first lap, before I realized I still had three left. Laps two and three I was getting angry at myself. Yelling. Asking what was I thinking. And then it was the last lap. I would have loved to have sprinted it with all my excess energy, but I had none, so snail's pace had to do. My favorite song (of the week) came on (Iyaz - Replay, in case you were wondering), I got so excited, even caught myself singing outloud - good thing I was alone.
I finish, but my legs feel like jell-o so I can't stop moving. I just started walking around and shaking them out. It reminded me of when I used to swim, we used to always shake out our limbs after races... pretty weird if you think about it? Anyway, as soon as sensation came back into my legs, I felt my muscles start to tighten. I stretched out really well, but I still felt shaky. My legs were still tight so I started doing high knees, then some butt kicks to try and help... I don't know what got into me, but once I started I had to continue the entire routine from softball practice. I did some defensive slides, a couple grapevines, some frankensteins (no idea what they're really called but that's what we called them), high skips, my favorite groin stretches and even a couple sprints. This probably made things worse, but I couldn't stop myself.
I then got into my car and called my mother immediately to tell her what I had just done. She said that talking about it had made her tired, so I must be exhausted - I was. I got home and looked up to see how fast I had run this in (I pressed stop in the middle of the song as soon as I crossed the "finish" line and had been repeating 1:57 over and over to myself the whole ride home). I added it all up and realized that it took me 33 minutes to complete this. I am pretty sure I could have walked faster. I take it back, I am positive I could walk that faster.
Dear Friends who are running the Turkry Trot with me: I will not be offended when you leave me in your dust.
For my first 3-mile run, I feel accomplished. However, this time is going to need to decrease drastically because the actual race involves 2 ADDTIONAL miles and I just can't picture myself running for an hour straight!
XOXO
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STATS
33 Minutes
Miles Ran: 3
Cumulative Miles: 21.32
Days until Race: 10
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