Sunday Matt and I were supposed to run the Heart and Sole Half Marathon. This would have been our 3rd Half Marathon of this calendar year, and our 7th overall, but due to the insanely crazy lives we lead, we have not been running much. My longest recent run was an 8 miler with my GFs and it didn’t go awesome (didn’t go terribly either). So Sunday morning, we found out we could drop down to the 10K, which is the other event that Heart and Sole offers and we gladly did so.
Still at less than half the distance, I had a terrible day. I felt sluggish. I felt like I couldn’t fully bring air into my lungs. I felt like my limbs were super heavy, particularly my arms. I felt hot. I felt cranky. I couldn’t find a song I liked. It was torturous, the way 6 miles hasn’t been for a long time. My chip time was over 1:06, and I should easily have been able to run this sub 1:00 or better. That may not seem like a big deal/difference, but it was more the way it felt.
I felt inept and slow, like it was my first race. I didn’t have fun. But it did do one important thing for me: it totally motivated me to get off my arse and start running seriously again. I have never stopped working out. From July 11 thru Aug 10, I was attending BootCamp every day. I barely had strength enough left to play with the kids let alone do any more than my bare-minimum runs. But now I’ve acclimated somewhat to the intense workouts of BootCamp and I have started going just 3 days/week. That should leave me ample time to run.
And run I will. I have a new training plan, one I am not going to allow myself to get sidelined on just because I’m out of town (I am out of town for 3 of 6 long runs). My do-or-die training plan. Because if I don’t do it, Oct 9 is going to feel REALLY REALLY bad.