Remember way back when I went to New England for my friend Caitlin’s bridal shower and bachelorette party? Remember how I gave up my seat on the flight back home for a $500 voucher? Well, I’m finally using that voucher. I’m heading to Oregon to visit my mom for 5 days. She lives in southern Oregon, so I have to fly into a little, local airport, which means flights generally aren’t that cheap, but with my $500 voucher, I only had to pay $9. Not too bad, right? Anyway, since my mom lives far from me, I don’t see her very often. It’s been over a year since the last time I saw her! She hasn’t even seen my engagement ring in person! So we will be doing some fun mother-daughter wedding stuff over the next few days. Be sure to look for a post over at Nick and Kim Tie the Knot soon with the fun mother-daughter wedding adventures!
But before I leaving for Oregon, I had a task to do: run my “weekend long run” as part of my pitiful 10K training plan. (I only say it’s pitiful because it’s somewhat impromptu and abbreviated. For those who have followed a real training plan for a 10K, I commend you. It’s hard work! Had I allowed myself more time, I would have built up better and trained properly, but I’m rushed and and my pitiful little training plan is going to have to do!) I haven’t ran outside since the Thrill of the Grill 5K about 2 months ago and I totally procrastinated doing today’s three mile run for 1. fear of the temperature, even though it wasn’t really that hot out, and 2. running in my neighborhood which I’m very burned out on, not to mention the “killer” hill that I face at the end. (Okay, that “killer” hill isn’t really that bad, but I psych myself out about it and dread it for the entire run. I’ve been known to go out of my way to avoid it just because I’ve built it up as being so horrible in my head.)
So if you recall, I posted my “pitiful” 10K training schedule earlier in the week with intentions of having training start on Monday. Well, I did do some strength training on Monday, but that was it. The rest of the week has been super busy for me and I couldn’t peal myself out of the bed before “work” to run. So today was officially the first training run. And let me just say, it wasn’t pretty. The first mile wasn’t so bad, but I did feel like I was barely moving. I hit the 1-mile mark and my little Nike+ GPS lady told me my pace. Sure enough, I was going a lot slower than I’ve been going on the treadmill and my former outdoor running. I had to continuously tell myself over and over again over the course of the next two miles that it’s not about my time right now. It’s about adjusting to running in the heat and successfully completing the 10K to place me in a pace training group. As the weather cools down come fall and my speed increases, I can change pace groups.
Mental talk: Don’t stop. Just keep moving. Oh, I really don’t want to run up that hill at the end. Time doesn’t matter right now. You are going to write about this on your blog, so don’t cheat. Should I avoid that hill? Okay, if I just get to that tree up ahead, then I can stop. No, I must keep going. Okay, here is my escape out of that big hill, just keep going straight to avoid it. I’m psyching myself out, that hill is not that bad. I am strong, I will not let that damn hill get the best of me. Ugh, I hate this hill, I wish I avoided it! I don’t care how slow I have to go to get up this hill, I will not stop running. Ah, made it to the top, just a quarter mile to go. I’m on the home stretch! DONE!
Like I said, it wasn’t pretty, and I haven’t ran that slow in a long a while, but I did it and right now I’m taking glory in that. I wish I could say it was the heat that really slowed me down, but it wasn’t too hot out.
Feels like ~80*. After lying down can catching my breath in the middle of the living room, I logged on to Nike to get my splits. Throughout the run, the little Nike+ GPS lady was telling me I was getting slower and slower, but she doesn’t tell me the pace for each mile, just the average pace overall.
Sure enough, that hill killed me. 11’00″/mile! I’ve got to work on that. Sadly, I see hill work in my future. But before then, I get to enjoy some cooler, drier weather! Off to Oregon!
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