Sunday, May 18, 2008

Weekend Ramblings

You know you're true friend when you agree to play airport shuttle service at 4:15am on a Saturday morning.

Either that, or you're just a runner that loves early Saturday morning runs, and figure you'd be up early anyway! ;)

Not sure exactly which one I am ~ hopefully a combination of both ~ so I drug myself out of bed at 4:15 to take my friend K (and her family) to the airport in the wee morning hours. I donned my running clothes, visor, and a pair of flip flops. With coffee in hand, my super shuttle did it's morning duty.

After getting home at 5:30am, I tossed on my shoes, stretched out my extremely tight muscles.....and was out the door just before 6am. The plan was 2 or 3 miles ~ whichever distance showed the least probability of killing me.

The first mile out was rough. Mentally, I was disappointed......seems like each time I take a step forward in my running, I end up taking 2 steps back. Some days I feel like I've spent the past 2 years spinning my wheels, and not really getting anywhere. The first mile of this run felt much more like the Pokey of 2 years ago.....not the Pokey that just less than 2 months ago, rocked the first 10 miles of the Valley of the Sun HM with Lisa (the fact that I crashed after those 10 miles really isn't the point, in case you wondered! :P)

I stopped for a brief moment after the first mile to stretch. Everything was so tight. I checked Garmie: 13:02. BLECH.

I decided to take a 3 mile route and see what happened. I figured that walking wouldn't be the worst alternative.

Somewhere in the middle of mile 2, I started to feel good. I was running continously ~ no walking ~ and was somewhere in my comfort pace. When I gave a glance to Garmie again, I was incredibly surprised. My *comfort pace* had turned to 11:15.

Well, friends ~ there is no better motivation for me than seeing a great number on good ol' Mr. Garmin. My fastest mile ever run was 11:15 ~ and some of you may recall that it was in a hail storm, in the freezing cold!!! (I really had just wanted to get home!)

So somehow yesterday ~ after all the beating my body has taken over the past 3 weeks ~ I somehow found some mental toughness to keep me moving. I ended up pushing for a 5K distance, and in the end, my arch-rival Garmie had nothing but nice things to say to me:

Mile 1: 13:02
Mile 2: 11:41
Mile 3: 11:38
.1 mile: 0:59 (9:55 pace - that's a sprint for me, in case you wondered!)

I am all for negativity ~ as long as it manifests itself in SPLITS!!!! ;)

Most of you already know my disdain for the 5K distance ~ and the fact that I've only run 2 of them in the past couple years ~ so the fact that this is my fastest 5K probably won't surprise many of you. Crazy, isn't it? Not bad for my surgery-recovering-snot-blowing-stuffy-headed-hacking-up-a-lung-haven't-been-running-worth-a-crap-body, huh???


Running is the eternal surprise ~ you never know what awaits you when you hit the pavement.

NOW....... if only the rest of my weekend had gone as well, I would continue to be thrilled! As I type this, I sit here waiting for my hubby to return from golf so that I can go the urgent care center by our house. Oh no...it's nothing super urgent.....just a nasty case of PINK EYE that graced me with it's presence upon my waking this morning :X Apparently, all the lovely snot I have in my nose has backed up into my eyeballs ~ lovely visual, eh?? So I am in serious need of some eyedrops...and don't want to wait until tomorrow when I wait up looking like the Monster of the Deep. *SIGH* I really hope my body gives me a break. I'm tired of being sick. Ahhhh, yes ~ I'm a mess.

So for now, I will sit here with my drippy eyeballs, relish in my great run from yesterday, and wait anxiously for all the race reports from all the great peeps that are racing this weekend!

18 comments:

Nat said...

Oh that sounds like a great run!

Pink eye... ack! Maybe it makes you run faster. :)

Bev said...

Nice times. Keep at it. There is always that ebb and flow.

E said...

Awesome split times! Hope the pink eye doesn't last too long and you get back out there soon!

Nancy said...

What a great run! Glad you got the 5k in. I struggled through a long run that wasn't very long cuz it hurt so bad. That will mess with my mind just two weeks before my race. ugh.

Hope you get to feeling better and get all healed up soon.

You ARE a great friend!!

J~Mom said...

Awesome job on your 5k!!! I hope you join me for the 5k series this summer!! I sure hope you feel better super fast...eye stuff is no fun at all!

Brianna said...

Hooray for the run (with a NICE sprint at the end!) and good luck with the eyes. No fun!

Way to get in a post with oozie eyes. You don't let anything stand in your way!

Marcy said...

Ooooohhhh AWESOME on that run chica!! WHOOO HOOO!!

Urrggh pink eye. That stuff stucks. Hang in there and get better :-)

Jeff said...

Great job just taking the opportunity to get out the door and doing the max run. Nice times. Great negative splits! Pink eye -- yuck!

Nitmos said...

I'm reading lots of weekend reports from folks with various issues. So, I'll say the same to your: count this as your new Pink Eye PR! And congratulations.

Wes said...

Once the endorphins kicked in, you were so golden :-) Pink eye doth indeed suck, but easily fixable! Hope you feel 100% soon!!

Cheryl said...

Poor Pokey! You sound miserable. I sure hope you will be well soon.

Great run, and good for you - getting out there and running in spite of it all. :-)

Mendy said...

That sucks on the pink eye! Hope you get meds soon.

congrats on a GREAT 5K!!!! Look at those splits!

Anonymous said...

Way to go on the run. I always knew there was a "runner" in there. Nice to see her continuing to grow and evolve.

As for the pink eye, no offense, but I'm damn glad you're several hundred miles away from me. I hate that stuff.

Get well soon!!! (And don't give it to the kids).

Viv said...

I hope those eyes are seeing clearly now. That is great on the 5K. I think you like cliffhanging us. I strat thinking oh no, Poke had a tough oh wait a minute she swings out a PR :-)

Laura N said...

Great job, girl. I'm glad you are back at it. (bummer about the pink eye, though. the drops should clear it up quickly.) Hope you have a great week!

RunningNan said...

Great run! I just hope you are feeling better soon!

Chief Wahoo said...

Sounds like a great 5K run - sometimes it is all about pushing through that first tough mile!

CewTwo said...

The fiorst mile is the acclimation mile for me. No matter what run I've scheduled for myself! It is the doldrums and the height of ecstacy (depending on the day).

Once I have that out of my system, I'm fine. Most days even better than fine. I just put a hitch in my getalong and off I go!

Take care and take care of yourself!