Embracing the Run

I ran 10 miles this morning. I know, big deal, big deal.

Actually, it kind of is a big deal for me. It's been over 2 years since my last marathon, which means I don't run a lot of weekly mileage. Panther has been on my case for a while now to increase my numbers, but I've only recently embraced it.

Last year, starting in March, my weekly run mileage was 12/13/17/21/18/11/20/16/12/20. This year those numbers are 14/13/15/15/24/19/30/30/30/12 and this week is 24 with more to go. That means 162 last year versus 225 this year. Nice.

Last year, when given a choice, I would go to the gym. Last year I was at 25 visits; this year I'm at 9, which includes my past 3 week hiatus. I'm coming to accept that triathlons don't include chest presses or deadlifts. :)

Last year, the idea of running 10 miles on a Wednesday morning, alone none the less, was a joke. This year, I'll suck it up and go run.

Anyway, this morning was a hard run. Last night's quality workout was very hard, especially on sore legs from the trail run. We did 1200m repeats in Zilker Park at 5K pace, then D & I cooled down with a half a mile swim in Barton Springs. My running partner bailed. My Ipod had no juice. I figured I'd leave from the house and just aim for 6 miles. But I hit the rock and decided to continue on the 7 mile loop instead of turning around. Then I got to the Barton Springs turnoff and decided to run to the pool to perhaps retrieve the swimsuit I left there last night. (Success - whew!!) My run turned into a shuffle after 8 miles, with long bouts of something that looked remarkably like walking. But I did it.

Last year, there would have been no way I would finished 10 miles. This year, I am embracing the run, damnit!

A much better runner than me says, "You have to want it!!" when it comes to running faster. Last night during the repeats, I kept thinking "I want it! I want it! And (as it really hurt)... I don't want it anymore."

Scratch that - I do want it!