Today I ran 6ish miles in 56 ish minutes. Including the two times I stopped- once for water (approximately 15 seconds) and once because my knee was hurting (a few minutes). And I had to slow down a couple times because of my knee. But I did start out a little slower than usual, which I think was a big help, and really hard for me to do. I think I may have felt the most accomplished when I passed a man. He looked like he was in shape... gave me a run for my money. But in the end, my competitiveness and agile athleticism dominated. Or it may have been because he was old and overweight. But not much overweight!
The reason I haven't posted in about two weeks is because, honestly, I haven't run in about two weeks. I got a bad stomach virus that had been going around right after my last post. It is only supposed to last 24 or 48 hours. Mine lasted six days. Yes, 6. You don't need to get your glasses. I lived off of Gatorade and Pedialite- well, the generic, which by the way, tastes alot like Gatorade these days. Needless to say, I didn't want to see Gatorade again for a while. I did not even try to run during that week, knowing that it would be worthless. Once I was finally over the bug, It was cold outside. Being the wimp I am, I decided to bike and swim instead of run. I only ran once-- about three miles. What I learned: you can effectively cross train and not lose any running skill! The six miles I ran earlier, aside from my knee bugging me periodically, was surprisingly easy! My breathing, and therefore heart rate, was not too heavy the whole time, and my leg muscles weren't burning at the end. (Of course, I was going kind of slow.) I would be willing to argue that a person could just do one long run and one shorter run per week, cross train the rest of the time and effectively train for an event- such as a marathon.
Well, I have nothing further to report on this subject today, except to keep in the forefront of our minds the reason why we are doing this. Not to lose weight (although I really hope I do =]) and not to gain friends (even though I have and am really glad of it), but to raise money for cancer research and hopefully contribute to a cure. That's what we're here for...
"Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them."
John Updike
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