I have not run yet this morning but am getting ready to go out. I thought I would jot down a few comments now, before my run. I want to compare what I expect from what actually happens.
I don’t feel all that good today. I have noticed as I am getting older that I am developing more sensitivity to allergens in the air. And various joints in my feet and ankles feel like they have sheet metals screws in them. Right now my lungs have been very irritated for a few days. I can feel irritation in my extreme upper chest when I breath very deeply and it is not a pleasant feeling. It feels kind of like I am “over-stretching” or “over-inflating” my lung tissue. Actually it feels a bit better this morning.
And I feel pretty tired, even though I have not done much except rest since last Sunday. So I feel pretty pessimistic about whether I can even finish this run let alone in the time I would like. I wanted to be out of here by 8 AM but I haven’t even finished my first coffee yet and it is ten to eight already. I can’t head out until I wake up or I’ll be sorry when I am stuck on my route with no bathroom if you know what I mean, and if you are a runner you do.
I’m not usually pessimistic like this but I thought I would write this stuff down to demonstrate that being committed to running is not always as easy as it may seem if all you read about is running paces and la-de-dah here I go again on a fun run… At any rate, the sheet metal screws in my joints will go away after a short warm-up, and with any luck if I have to go to the bathroom I can find a duck or a goose to hide behind… well, here I go… hope it’s a blind duck … or a duck blind … ha ha.
To be continued when I get back…
Part 2:
OK, I’m back and here are the stats: Distance run = 22 km; Time = 2:42:31; Pace = 7:23
I began a little slower than my goal of 7:30 in order to melt out the sheet metal screws in my ankle joint and after the 2nd km I felt much better. I kept slightly ahead of my 7:30 pace goal, which I checked at various distances to make sure I was not going too fast or too slow. Throughout my run there were times when I thought that this was hard and too much work, and I’d never be able to finish, and other times when I felt like I was gliding along effortlessly. I felt pretty good for most of the run. There was one moment when the sheet metal screws came back and I thought angry thoughts towards my ankle around the 17 km mark, but easing off very slightly I was able to tolerate the pain until it went away after about oh…a hundred meters or so. After that there were no more joint issues. Around the 18 km mark it began to rain, about 4 km from the finish, and just when MM came along in the car to hand me a little more Gatorade. She had phoned me and I asked her to bring out a little extra I had prepared this morning. So she did.
There were times when I thought I had plenty of oxygen reserve left and I felt I could have run faster but I was limited by my muscle strength. This surprised me a whole lot. It’s usually the other way around. In other words I guess I hit many “mini-walls” during the run, each of which I overcame. I did not take any walk breaks except what I had to in order to drink some Gatorade. I just can’t drink and run at the same time, depending on the type of bottle I carry.
The last 5 km of my run I began to run pretty fast so that I gained about 3 minutes of time, but the last 2 km I lost 15 seconds of those 3 minutes. I suppose I could have run farther that day if I walked long enough to recover, but it felt like I could just barely finish the 22 km, especially the last 500 meters because I gave it everything I had and I had nothing left at the end.
No matter how bad or how good I feel during a run, whether I finish or not is always an open question. With only a few exceptions I have usually managed to finish. Which is good. The bottom line is that I feel pretty good about today’s run, although I still can’t imagine how I can possibly run an inch further than what I ran today.
As to the Bear Tossing story, I admit the whole thing is a complete fabrication on my part. It is not a story I “re-told”. Yes, Bonnie, I made it all up.
PS: I forgot to mention that my lungs feel just fine, no more irritation. Dang that pollen stuff anyway!