I loved reading your comments in regards to yesterday's post on inspiration. I do hope you all know I was not in any way shape or form fishing for compliments. I also hope that you all know that I find inspiration in all of you each day.
Speaking of inspiration, I had to dig in deep today for inspiration for my long run. Today the half training plan called for 13 miles at a 9:54 pace. I will admit to being a bit nervous before I got going. Almost like I was racing. Though, I reminded myself over and over to not treat the run as a race. I knew I needed to control my pace. I did not need to try to run close to race pace - which I have a tendency to start focusing on.
So my plan was to not look at my time until I stopped for my first GU around mile 6. The route I took put me passing a water fountain twice so I could refill then I passed my car a little over mile 10 for a final water refill. I was definitely prepared. I knew where I could get water, when I should take my GU. So the rest came down to body and mind cooperating.
It was about 65 degrees when I headed out. But it felt really warm, really fast. I'm not sure if it was the humidity or what, but I just felt hot immediately. But otherwise, I felt good. I sort of just zoned out and went with it. The route took me farther out than I had gone before and I just tried to take in the scenery, the new views. I am going to get Jason to take pictures of the area on his next bike ride. I really want to share because it is so pretty. You get to see the river and also Pinnacle Mountain in the distance. Just very peaceful.
Then my worst nightmare happened. I was just minding my business, grooving to my music, and I look up to see about 30 geese on the path ahead of me. Thoughts: Oh shit, Effing Geese, Crap.....
Oh you think I'm being irrational right now I'm sure. They look fairly innocent right? But I have a traumatic past when it comes to geese, well, one particular goose. My grandparents had several acres allowing them to have chickens, which we would hatch. One year Nanny actually bought duck eggs to hatch as well. It was so cool going over every weekend to check on the eggs and count down the days to when they'd hatch.
When they hatched, we had the most adorable ducks, and one goose. Long story short, the goose grew up to be evil. Don't laugh, it was evil. If you have never been chased down and bitten by a goose, you just simply can't understand my trauma. They hiss and honk and then put their pointy evil heads down and charge. And they're fast. My sister and I both have an extreme hatred of geese now. It might very well be an animal I'd actually harm. No lie. I won't even kill roaches (ok that's mostly because of the crunch factor, but you get the point).
So, when I see all of those damn geese ahead of me, I almost stopped dead in my tracks. I wasn't sure what I should do. Turn around? Keep going? Walk? Not a clue. And there was no one around so then I have images of myself being pecked to death by the stupid geese and no one being around to help me. I ended up slowing down a little trying not to scare them, but hoping to urge them off the path.
For most of them, that worked. But there were a few assholes that wanted to try to honk at me and started walking towards me. Time to ditch the go slow theory. I high-tailed it trying to get away from them as quickly as possible, praying that they weren't chasing after me. I survived unscathed to continue the rest of my run (heart rate a little higher perhaps).
I was really pleased with how well I felt during the run. Maybe it was the runner's high that kept me rocking along. I was grinning like a fool most of the run. I had no real issues with piriformis, calves, sciatica, only the geese. In fact, when I hit my mark to turn back to finish the run, there was this crazy little (runner's high) voice saying to just go ahead, make it 14. You got this. But, I listened to the common sense part of me and didn't push it. So, 13.4 miles with average 9:26 pace. Very happy with this - it's also a new personal distance record.
When I got home I spent about 30 minutes stretching and rolling out on the Triggerpoint Therapy Kit. I wasn't super productive other than the run. I think that's understandable though. I'm allowed that today I do believe. I did manage to sweep the floors and do some more laundry at least. We did go to the grocery store after lunch as well. That actually has to count for a lot right?
Rest of the evening will likely be spent with feet propped up and rear end glued to the couch. And I'm absolutely ok with this ;-)
Daily To-Enjoy List:
Speaking of inspiration, I had to dig in deep today for inspiration for my long run. Today the half training plan called for 13 miles at a 9:54 pace. I will admit to being a bit nervous before I got going. Almost like I was racing. Though, I reminded myself over and over to not treat the run as a race. I knew I needed to control my pace. I did not need to try to run close to race pace - which I have a tendency to start focusing on.
So my plan was to not look at my time until I stopped for my first GU around mile 6. The route I took put me passing a water fountain twice so I could refill then I passed my car a little over mile 10 for a final water refill. I was definitely prepared. I knew where I could get water, when I should take my GU. So the rest came down to body and mind cooperating.
It was about 65 degrees when I headed out. But it felt really warm, really fast. I'm not sure if it was the humidity or what, but I just felt hot immediately. But otherwise, I felt good. I sort of just zoned out and went with it. The route took me farther out than I had gone before and I just tried to take in the scenery, the new views. I am going to get Jason to take pictures of the area on his next bike ride. I really want to share because it is so pretty. You get to see the river and also Pinnacle Mountain in the distance. Just very peaceful.
Then my worst nightmare happened. I was just minding my business, grooving to my music, and I look up to see about 30 geese on the path ahead of me. Thoughts: Oh shit, Effing Geese, Crap.....
 |
| Sourc |
When they hatched, we had the most adorable ducks, and one goose. Long story short, the goose grew up to be evil. Don't laugh, it was evil. If you have never been chased down and bitten by a goose, you just simply can't understand my trauma. They hiss and honk and then put their pointy evil heads down and charge. And they're fast. My sister and I both have an extreme hatred of geese now. It might very well be an animal I'd actually harm. No lie. I won't even kill roaches (ok that's mostly because of the crunch factor, but you get the point).
So, when I see all of those damn geese ahead of me, I almost stopped dead in my tracks. I wasn't sure what I should do. Turn around? Keep going? Walk? Not a clue. And there was no one around so then I have images of myself being pecked to death by the stupid geese and no one being around to help me. I ended up slowing down a little trying not to scare them, but hoping to urge them off the path.
For most of them, that worked. But there were a few assholes that wanted to try to honk at me and started walking towards me. Time to ditch the go slow theory. I high-tailed it trying to get away from them as quickly as possible, praying that they weren't chasing after me. I survived unscathed to continue the rest of my run (heart rate a little higher perhaps).
I was really pleased with how well I felt during the run. Maybe it was the runner's high that kept me rocking along. I was grinning like a fool most of the run. I had no real issues with piriformis, calves, sciatica, only the geese. In fact, when I hit my mark to turn back to finish the run, there was this crazy little (runner's high) voice saying to just go ahead, make it 14. You got this. But, I listened to the common sense part of me and didn't push it. So, 13.4 miles with average 9:26 pace. Very happy with this - it's also a new personal distance record.
When I got home I spent about 30 minutes stretching and rolling out on the Triggerpoint Therapy Kit. I wasn't super productive other than the run. I think that's understandable though. I'm allowed that today I do believe. I did manage to sweep the floors and do some more laundry at least. We did go to the grocery store after lunch as well. That actually has to count for a lot right?
Rest of the evening will likely be spent with feet propped up and rear end glued to the couch. And I'm absolutely ok with this ;-)
Daily To-Enjoy List:
- Long run
- Sunshine
- Relaxing
- Mimosa
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