I am in a running rut - I admt it.. After the ING Half Marathon I was exhausted from training. Also, we moved into a house about a week later, so I was busy busy and really ran out of time to run. Now that we are in the house I have been consuming myself with "fixing" it up - painting, working in the yard, decorating, etc. It has been crazy around our house. I have just stopped running all together.
A couple of friends wanted to run the Big Peach 5k a couple weekends ago. Of course, I was excited to do it - especially since I would actually get to run it with friends! I barely ran in the weeks beforehand because I was busy with the house. Also, David's dad had been in a motorcycle accident the weekend before and we'd been in Pensalcola for a few days. Before I knew it the race was only a few days away and I had barely run. The week before I attempted to get some solid 3 milers in with hills just to make sure I was ready. That week I was overwhemed with stuff to do, so I only managed to run a couple days of the week. Then there it was - the day of tha race. I didn't think it was that big of deal that I hadn't run a lot over the last couple weeks. I thought, 3 miles? Pshhh. No problem.
Well, it was a problem. I started off feeling ok, but knew right away that I wasn't in my best shape. My goal was to keep up with my guy friends (which I may have actually been able to do if I'd been training), but there was no way that was happening for this race. Within the first 5 minutes, the guys were off and I couldn't even seem them in the distance. I kept my pace steady, but with every 1/2 mile I felt it slipping. We were not even at mile 1 when I felt a horrible cramp right near my ribs. I'd had cramps before, but never one right there basically in my rib cage. It was miserable. With every breath I took in, my ribs just ached in pain. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?" I thought. "What did I eat this morning?" 3/4 of a Luna Bar and a small glass of water. I couldn't figure why this cramp was here. I just pushed through it, thinking it would go away pretty soon, but no. I had that sucker almost the entire time. I think it finally passed with 3/4 mile to go. Just my luck. I think I knew it was bad when I saw this huge hill near the last mile. It wasn't huge in terms of steepness, but it was a steady incline that just seemed to last forever. In my opinion, they are the worst!!! I'd rather take a steep incline any day. About halfway into the hill I just felt like I was just done - like I just wanted to walk because I couldn't breathe. I thought to myself, "You just ran 13 miles about a month ago - COME ON!!" With pure anger at myself I made it up the hill. I could see the finish line in the distance, but I had no energy to speed up. I knew that my time would be one of my worst.
I saw a girl from college passing me. She probably didn't recognize or even see me, but I saw her as she passed by. I was so mad at myself because I could tell that I was overall in better shape then her, but she was the one passing me! This is usually the point when I feel like I can give 120% and push through it, but I just felt even more defeated as I got passed. I already felt like I was giving 120%, but that I had nothing to show for it. Two blonde, skinny moms, with their DOUBLE wide stroller started to pass me by. Are you kidding me!??!?! I tried my best to just put it all out of my mind and just focused on continuing to run. One foot in front of the other and no stopping!
I saw David right before I crossed the finish line smiling at me. I hardly looked at him bc i was trying to focus on just making it across the finish. I am normally smiling and waiving, but not that day. Finally I finished with a time of 26:53. Sick. That was definitely my worst time ever. I was mad, but I knew that I hadn't trained at all to get a good finishing time, so why was I suprised?
So here I am - with a disappointing race behind me and busy schedule infront of me. I know one thing, without running I felt a little lost and kinda sad to be honest. I definitely don't feel as good about myself. I need the exercise. I WANT the exercise! It makes you feel better all around. So today is THE DAY! I have 7 weeks until Peachtree. This year the Peachtree has qualifying times that determine what start group you will be in. I had a pretty good qualifying time from the US 10k, so I should get a good starting group. I am hoping to simply beat my time from last year, which I think it definitely possible. So here, I go again. I am glad I taking a step in the right direction.
The plan for this week?
Monday: 3 mile run + strength
Tuesday: 3.0 miles
Weds: 35 minute tempo run
Thurs: 3.5 miles + strength
Friday: OFF
Saturday: 4.5 mile Long Run
Sunday: some kind of cross training