So I felt that pull again this morning....that unspoken desire to get my ass running again. Perhaps its because I just starting reading "Run" by Dean Karnazes, or because I'm trying to find an attainable goal to reach through the holidays (something I can do daily to help me survive this year) - but either way, that pull became a nervous antsy-ness around 7am this morning.
After my fabulously dismal run on Friday (I've never run a 5K that slowly) - but I recognized that I'm out of running shape, my knees hurt because of the weather change, I was tired and not 100% feeling it - BUT decided to do intervals instead, managed to finish and feel better after the fact - I had something to prove to myself this morning. Today I wanted to show myself that I'm still capable of running a solid mile at 6 MPH - a 10 min mile. I needed to see that I still could.
At 715, I took a break, grabbed my little shuffle MP3 player and headed to the gym at work. I'm already wearing workout clothes (since I have classes after work today) - so it was easy to jump on the treadmill. The gym lights were off - and I kept them that way. The only light was coming from the gray haze of wintery sunrise occurring outside. It felt great to run in the soft natural light - my eyes didn't have to strain or adjust...it was just awesome
So - now after all that build up...how did I do?? Well I proved myself correct - I am still capable of a 10 min mile. There was no question - it felt good. No hesitation during the whole thing - I zoned out almost instantly and enjoyed the whole thing. It was over before I knew it. That's how running should be. Not the slogging 5K I ran on Friday - this is what running is supposed to feel like. 1 mile in 10 mins - check that off today's list of accomplishments! Go me!
Now - that being said. I want to run as much as I can, but I don't want to force myself to do it (which takes the fun out of anything). Last year, I ran a Marathon to Christmas - a mile a day from Thanksgiving to Christmas, just to keep my lazy butt in shape during the holidays. This year, I feel like I can accomplish more....but how much more??
There are currently 53 days left in a year. 53 - that's a good solid Ultra....that's over 85 KM - even running a mile a day its definitely ambitious considering how much I already work out. BUT - according to my mileage tracker, I'm currently at over 129 miles for the year. 129 + 53 = 182 miles....that's damn close to 200. Can I hit 200 miles by the end of the year? 53 days to run 71 miles. That's over 8 miles a week. If I do a mile a day, with one 5K day each week - this is do-able. I think this is my ambitious goal for the next 53 days....I want to make the rest of this year count. I've had too many slack off days. I need something tangible to work towards. Since I don't have the free time or the energy to train for a longer race - this is the best I can to
Happy Running Everyone!
Total Miles Ran in 2011: 129.2 Miles
Total Calories Burned "Running From My Issues": 19,320 Calories GONE
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