Last night I knew that I was going to go 9 miles today. I started the “stoking one’s self to kill one’s self” process around 7pm. Saying things like, “Hey, you can do this”, “How much worse can 9 miles be than 8″, “Better get to bed early tonight, 7am comes quickly”. All these thoughts went through my head, and I truly thought I was ready to run. I thought about what I wanted my interval to be, my pace, etc. etc. All of which I totally tanked on.
7am did indeed come, and I was out the door by 7:15. I had settled on a overly optimistic 10/1 interval (listen carefully, can you hear the bells of doom??) cycle and kept a pretty steady pace (I didn’t check my Nike+ so I can’t really tell you what that pace was but somewhere around 11:00 or so). I mean, come on, I use a 10/1 for my daily 4 milers… that should work, right?? It worked GREAT for the first 5 miles. Someone didn’t tell my body that it had another 4 to go. at 5.5 miles I was pooped. So, I changed my interval to 8/1 thinking that would be better. Well I ran for about 2 minutes before needing a walk break. by mile 6 I just buckled and set my watch for a 2/2 interval (that was after walking for about 6/10ths of a mile). I was bummed.
Looking back (I hate hindsight… don’t you??) I knew that a 10/1 interval was way to aggressive. When I ran my first 8 miler I used a 6/1 and felt pretty good through the whole thing. What happened to my brain??!! Who’s brilliant idea was it to do a 10/1?? I’ve run two 8 milers both of them at 6/1 and my average pace hovered around 12:20 or so. Today?? Not so much. My average pace was a very slow 13:34. It’s okay. I finished when I wanted to quit at 8 miles. I pushed through and finished the mileage I had set for myself to complete. I know, deep down, THAT is what it’s about; at the same time I’m a bit disappointed in myself too.
Anyway… I can proudly say I’ve completed 1/3 of a marathon! I do need to remember that it is all a process. I need to be able to look at what was accomplished and be very happy with myself. When I wanted to quit, I didn’t. I pushed through, EVEN if it was a VERY SLOW push.
Don’t give up. Keep on pushing no matter how slow it may be!
