My Crap Run Wasn’t Even That Bad

So, I jinxed myself with my last post – it happened. As soon as I said I expected to have a crap run, it reared its ugly head.

It started out with a warning sign – my tummy.  Luckily that cleared itself up by my delaying my run for about 10-15 minutes. Then, there was the “yes, we really are dying on you” signals from my headphones.

Pink Sony overear headphones, photo courtesy of amazon.com

You know the type – the music is only coming out of one earpiece, unless you hold the wire just so. Luckily, my bouncing all around seemed to help them today.  (I bought a new pair tonight, in pink. Yes, they are totally girly. Get over it.)

Then, there was the first big hill which I encounter within about a half mile or less from my front door. It’s not bothered me much lately, but today I could feel myself laboring up it. I think I may just use that hill as my baseline from now on to see how I’m feeling.  (The terrain here is much different from where I moved from, as I might have had one hill like it, on my “hilly” route, which is to say I ran it when I felt like it, not on a daily basis.)

I decided to run down a hill that seemed to scare me until today, because it looked really steep, and I was afraid that once at the bottom, I’d never be able to climb backup it again. Boy, am I glad that I faced that fear today. I ended up finding a road called Hammond Pond Parkway. Other than the two lanes of traffic in both directions, I kind of felt like I was in the woods. Trees and trails on both sides of the road. If you ran on the grass and soft terrain rather than playing chicken with the cars, and kept your head cocked a bit to the left, you could almost mentally put yourself somewhere else.

(I have to admit, when Opticon by Orgy came onto my headphones, it was a bit jarring, considering my surroundings.) (Warning: my link goes to a video on YouTube where Opticon appeared on Charmed, one of my favorite TV shows. Mock if you will.)

Hammond Pond Parkway reminds me of the Blue Hills where I ran the 13.1 Marathon just south of Boston. Truth be told, it’d be hard to beat that area for scenery (and really difficult hills, Good Lord), but since this road is within running distance from where I am living, and offers its own sense of serenity, I will take it. I love running by the huge homes nearby (which are constantly being tended to by landscapers), but this area was just different. Those of you in the southwest would likely be jealous of how green it is. I’ll have to take a pic and post it.

Speaking of, below is another photo of the reservoir near me – the sun is beautiful when it reflects off of the water. For those of you familiar with, or who have run the Boston Marathon, you can usually see the Prudential and Hancock Towers off in the distance.  Right after I took this, I ran into someone who retired from my work a few years ago, and who always has a big smile on her face. She gave me a big hug even though I was a sweaty mess (it was hot and humid – news flash – what else is new?!) and I cut my run short to walk back toward my building with her and catch up.

So, the run was short (4 miles), hot, involved walking, and had minor music troubles.  A few years ago, that would have put me into a major funk.  Today, my attitude was this:  at least it wasn’t a race, and no one died. Tomorrow’s another day.

 

Running is so mental, bad news for a wackadoodle

Cliffs at Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard

And a wackadoodle is what I have definitely been the last few days.  Moods up and down, feeling insecure, then confident and positive (more like normal).  Frustrated at being moody, we all know the drill…

Scallop seashells are my favorite to find, other than conches. Finding a double one like this is unusual

I was listening to the local radio tonight in my car on the way to track practice, and one of the radio hosts (a woman) said “Let me explain women to you. We’re NUTS. We’re hormonal. We don’t make any sense.  We’re missing something. We make up situations in our mind and then act on them as if they’re real.”  I found myself laughing out loud because that’s how wacky I have felt for the last few days.  Women reading this – you have to agree, this is sometimes pretty fitting. Men reading this – you’re probably wanting to vigorously shake your head in agreement, but are looking around in fear thinking that your significant other (or any female) may be standing near you and will give you a smack upside the head.

 I am SO glad that if my hormones are going to go totally insane, it happens right now rather than this weekend, because as you all probably know, I am running  a half marathon that I actually care about, this weekend, on Sunday, June 27th!!

Corporation Beach, north side of Cape Cod, MA

Because I normally run in the morning, I have noticed that on days when I have track at night, I just don’t know what to do with myself during the day. But tonight was good for me. There was another guy there, Dan, who decided to also run the 13.1 Marathon this weekend. So, they had the two of us run 6 repeat 800s (rather than 400s like everyone else), and at about what pace we’d run if we were running the half marathon. We did each of them at about 4:31-4:32, and I’m so happy to say that we were totally able to talk in a very conversational way. I actually felt like we were kind of just doing a warm up the entire time.  Tells me what a long way I’ve come over the last two years, when that would have seemed impossible.

That was exactly the boost I needed.   After the slip-n-fall debacle of the 5K this past Saturday, my last long run on Sunday was absolutely atrocious. I couldn’t get enough sleep the night before, didn’t eat my normal Thai food (Father’s Day celebration the night before at the in-laws) and just all around sucked. I couldn’t keep any focus on my run to save my life.  I’ve not been able to do anything consistent on my long runs over the past few weeks, pace-wise, at all. So, knowing those repeats were actually slower than what I’ve been doing on my own, is a good thing.  When I got home, Bill noticed a change in my kind of down mood from yesterday afternoon, and I said “yeah, running always helps.”

View at about mile 5.5 of the 13.1 Marathon course, few weeks ago in fog. On a clear day, you should see Boston's skyline.

However,  I know that I can do all of the hills without needing to walk up them, because I forced myself to do that two weeks ago when I ran the entire length of the course. (Walking at one point or another though, may be a different story.) 

I’m hoping that having a lot of other runners around will help motivate me and keep me on track come Sunday morning. Dan, with whom I ran tonight, will likely beat me over the distance, although I can sometimes beat him in the shorter distances.  Our coach, Kristina, who some may know as Marathon Mama on the Competitor website, is also going to run it but I’ll never see here once it starts, since she wants to run it in about 1:40! (A time I can only, literally, dream about.)

Hope you enjoy the photos – many are from my vacation on Cape Cod. The water on Nantucket Sound and the ocean was sooo blue.

View from Ferry leaving Martha's Vineyard