The end of last week was really rough. Thursday was a struggle at work and Friday was even worse. My anxiety was off the charts, I was on edge all day. By the time I wrapped it up at work, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to go to the gym. But I changed my clothes, and I went–it might not make me feel better, but not going would definitely make me feel worse. And since I was going and had time to kill before class, I figured I might as well get a warm up mile in. I honestly did not have high hopes for it, the negativity in my head was spinning, and though I was going to force my hand a bit by using the treadmill, I didn’t expect anything spectacular. But I pushed. I bumped the speed up, then up again, then up again. And I finished my mile:
I was happy, but honestly, I was sure that I’d run faster with my buddy before, so I sent the pic to my husband and buddy, but basically let it go. I pushed through the rest of the workout–not as heavy as I would have liked to go, but I gave it everything I had in me. And I did feel better.
When I got home I looked to see what my fastest mile was so I could see where I was at. It wasn’t with my buddy, as I had suspected. It was at the Turkey Trot last November. And it was in the low 9s. That was my first sub 9-minute mile. How could I not be proud of that? Realizing that made me ecstatic.
So I went into this weekend with a major boost. My scheduled long run was supposed to be…6 miles. Not long by my definition, so I wanted to find a 10k to make it interesting. My running club never lets me down, when I failed to find something using my usual sources, I reached out and someone suggested a race on Sunday. An hour away, but I’ve driven further for shorter races, so no biggie to me. So I registered, and yesterday I drove up to Rochester, PA for the ORTC Summer Road Race 10k.
Flat, looped course along the Ohio River. It was pretty and scenic. Definitely different. The course is a 5k loop so the 10k runners did it twice. Very small field–like 23 in the 10k–but because of the loops it wasn’t desolate until the end (of course I was near the end). Definitely not a PR for me (as I’d initially hoped) but I ran the whole thing, which officially makes this the farthest I’ve run without walking in months. Baby steps, I’m getting my legs and confidence back slowly but surely.
This week I have a SCRR Flash 5k on Thursday–they announce the time and location the day of, you show up and run. Kind of excited, since I couldn’t do the last one and they only do 3 each summer. A 10-mile long run is on the schedule for next weekend, and I haven’t decided where and how that’s happening yet, but I’ll figure that out.
Happy Monday, Friends.