Thursday, October 7, 2010

Addiction

Merriam-Webster defines being addicted to something is “to devote or surrender (oneself) to something habitually or obsessively.” That definition pretty much sums up how I feel about my current running experiment. Addicted. My body is addicted anyway. Most of the time it takes about a mile into my run to actually start enjoying myself, but after my muscles warm up it’s a nice little ride I like to take with myself. I can’t really run with music as it kind of kills my focus. I like to listen to the sound of my shoes hitting the pavement, the sound of my breathing, and just be. It’s kind of a zen thing. I know, I sound like a dirty hippie.

I do, however, have weeks when the thought of running even 3 miles seems like a ridiculous thing to ask of myself. Sometimes I just don’t have the inclination to get up and do it, and sometimes I just simply don’t have time. I mean, we are ­busy. And, I don’t mean busy as in, “I’m so sorry I forgot to call you back, I’ve just been so busy lately.” I mean the kind of busy wherein you have to pencil-in time on the calendar to do the laundry and remember take in extra fiber to keep the BM’s moving along at a decent clip because you don’t have time to sit on the crapper for 30 minutes a day. Those aren’t complaints, per se. I like having many activities and outings and whatnot. I’m just stating facts. We actually do make a consorted effort to clean up our calendar from time-to-time, but we fail. What can I say, we’re go-getters.

But, I digress. (Purposefully, Jane. I’m much too busy to delete that whole paragraph.)

So, anyway… Last Saturday I ran my longest training run to-date, 10 miles. Whew! To my surprise, I did not feel that badly afterwards. I took some GU with me and sucked it down about mile 5.5. I think that really helped. It wasn’t until about mile 9 that I started to get really fatigued. I was doing a loop around White Rock Lake (~9.2 miles) so I had to go a little further to get in my full 10 miles, and I was worried that once I saw the car I would just stop. But, I didn’t. Yay me! I just kept going and finished my 10.1 miles in ~2:20. I don’t seem to be getting much faster, but I can go further so that’s something.

I did eat a giant Angry Dog cheeseburger afterwards (mmmmmmm), which in hindsight was a poor decision. My body wasn’t pleased with my choice of victory food after such a beat down. Whatever, shut up body, it was a damn tasty burger. What’s even sadder is that I ordered a Sierra Nevada (bigger mmmmmmm) to go with my giant cheeseburger and I couldn’t even drink it. My body was rejecting cheeseburgers and beer. What the what?? The saving grace is that Dave got to have an extra beer. A win for him. You’re welcome, dear.

10 miles. It sounds like a lot. Hell, it is a lot. But, this side of six months ago I thought 5 miles was a lot. Eight months ago I thought 3 miles was a lot. What you think you can accomplish is relative to your determination. A year ago I didn’t even want to run that much. It’s a big deal. After I finished this 10-mile run, I started thinking of all the races I could most likely run this season. I’m betting I could kick some ass. This is my schedule so far, along with a few next year I’m tossing around as definite maybes. There are more on the calendar, but I don’t want to get overly ambitious.

Palo Duro Trail Run 20K – Next weekend!
San Antonio Half Marathon Relay – November 2010 (First leg, 7.7 miles)
Turkey Trot 8 Mile – Thanksgiving 2010
Las Vegas Half – December 2010
Austin Half – February 2011
Hogeye Half – April 2011

By the way, the Tour de Fleurs 10K went very well. I ran with Serenity most of the way and finished at 1:30. Not bad. I don’t look like it, but I am having fun!


4 comments:

Jane Dough said...

Soon, you'll also start writing "no pun intended"...

Good for you and all your running. I'm such a quitter.

Azura said...

My dad and I have pun wars. We do.

Jane Dough said...

I love a good pun. I'm terrible at them, but my mom is King.

I just think it's silly to write "no pun intended"...when there was totally intent! Just boggles the mind, I tell ya!

Jason Harx said...

Dirty hippie!

But keep ordering those Sierra Nevada's...

:-)