12 Aug Medium Run 5 miles

The run today was full of pain.  So this is the first run of the week given my plan to now do the long runs on the weekend.  I almost didn’t go. In fact I was so tired from yesterday’s run that I ended up not going in the morning.  But at about 11 am, I headed out because I thought that if I didn’t discipline myself to do this, I’d just be making excuses.

I think one’s frame of mind is crucial.  This run, was by far, the most unpleasant thing that I’ve done in a while.  After the first mile, I felt like I was on a all weak in my legs, as if I was suffering from a sugar low or something.   I felt tight in my throat and stomach – sure signs of anxiety.  These feelings persisted into the second mile.  I don’t know why.  Even writing about this now, I feel woozy and lumpy in my throat.  Ook – maybe I’m falling ill or something for real.  But I think it’s more a psychological thing about hating running and having to do it.  I’d much rather curl up in bed with a big bowl of ice cream AND build stamina that way.

The third mile brought a new irritation – sweat in my eyes.  It really hurt my eyes after a while and I had to run with my eyes closed for stretches at a time.  All this is pretty ranty, I know, I was genuinely hating every moment of this run.  the sprinklers lining the pavement didn’t make things easier.  I ended up having to run on the road to avoid getting drenched, while avoiding on-coming traffic, while sweat poured into my stinging eyes.

The only good thing about today’s run is that I did it, even though it was really a slow painful slog.  I am looking forward to tomorrow’s short three-miles: hopefully it’ll be better and bury the memory of today’s run.

7 Aug – Medium Run – 5 miles

The medium runs are now longer in this final stage of the training schedule.  I woke up at about 6.30 but felt quite fatigued from going to bed late last night after watching the musical “Wicked”.  I really wasn’t too motivated to run this morning and I’m glad that Edna decided to run as well, as that meant that there were no excuses.

Instead of running the Hawk Island route, we did big loops around the neighborhood.  Each loop was 1.2 miles so we did four loops and ran a .3 mile stretch at the end.  The disadvantage, for me, of running loops is that it’s really boring.  After a difficult first round, I managed to be sufficiently distracted by the Pat Humphries album that I was listening to to complete a second round.  I think the first two loops were like a recovery run after the 9 mile on Tuesday, so they were quite painful.

The last two loops were much easier.  I actually was quite amazed at how easy the last loop was.  I definitely could have gone faster on the final round or run another loop, but I decided not to in order to preserve my legs and not mess up the incremental nature of the running schedule.

I think this loop running is good discipline for the mind, even though I hate it, and I’ll probably do the same route when I do the 5 mile run next.  I’ll need that mental discipline to keep going despite the boredom when I run the longer distances anyhow!  And I think the mental discipline is handy when I need to write a thesis chapter and just can’t bring myself to plodding along on it.

Practical note: I should get a cap cause the sweat pouring into my eyes makes running difficult.  And I should pay Hawk Island a non-running visit just to get some pictures of my route. Maybe I’ll go tomorrow.

28 July Long Run – 8 miles

So this was the long run that I was anticipating. I was worried enough about it to not sleep well the night before, almost as if I had to sit the O Level Chinese exam again. I kept waking up and my heart beat quite rapidly throughout the night. I also had the strangest dream about being a match-stick (??) that had to get downtown from the Bronx and who refused to get a ride from a rat.

Anyway – I kept making excuses about not going on the run, or at least not running the entire distance. It was pretty pathetic, though I did hurt quite badly from playing tennis yesterday. When I got up at about 6.30, my quads were suffering from quite major muscle ache from yesterday’s tennis foot-work. I ended up going out of the house after letting Sourdough out of the crate, but I wasn’t too optimistic that I’d make the 8 miles.

I plodded for about three miles, doing the usual one mile loops around the neighborhood. I saw the regular Asian old ladies duo who don’t ever return my smile. I’ll persist until I get a response from them. I really can’t remember what I was thinking about except that running doesn’t really hurt the quads and so the muscle ache was quite irrelevant. But I also realized that the back of my legs were hurting. I spent quite a lot time trying to remember the name of the muscle – and I did just as I completed the third mile. But I’ve forgotten it again. The other thing I thought about: the possible objections to psychoanalysis in my dissertation, especially how I’m going to use Freud’s Death of the Father and the Return of the Repressed in this chapter. I need to do it in a manner that doesn’t exalt psychoanalysis as biblical truth, just useful insight. After completing each round I was struck by how many more I had to do if I was going to grind out 8 miles doing the familiar loop.

After round three, I ended up doing the 4.5 Hawk Island route. This turned out to be a good decision. There was more traffic to look out for, thus distracting me from the pain, and once I got to the Park, there were actually quite a few people, mainly walking and largely above 60, walking around the Park. At the beginning of the run I was listening to “Raising Sand”, and it’s quite a nice slogging album. I especially like the song about the Fortune Teller, and I laugh out loud every time Robert Plant delivers the punch-line. Anyway, on the way to the Park, the album ran out so I randomly searched through my ipod and listened to Sonny Stitt blow his horn. What kept me going in the Park was the great scenery, the mirror-like lake, the cool forest segment, the people I met along the way that said “Hi”. I met this girl that I recognize from my runs around the neighborhood. She strides quite impressively, of course, and I think she was running the 4.5 Hawk Island route as well. Anyway, she was just entering the Park when I was leaving, and we exchanged “Hellos”.

So, leaving the Park, two things happened, My ipod went into “hang mode” and I held on a really long time before I managed to get it reset. Second. my legs were going on me. My calves, quads, and those muscles at the back of my legs whose names I remembered then forgot were really hurting. I slowed down considerably on the return route to Dover’s Crossing. I did however, manage to hold out and ran what I know to be about 0.6 of a mile in order to make up the full 8 mile distance.

I will say that I’m relieved that I did it. I had a strange sensation walking into the apartment and sipping water after the slog. It seemed that the air smelled really fragrant. Maybe it was a Margery Kempe moment but I suspect it had to do with all the chemicals flushing through my system. I’m still pretty elated – and this is about half and hour after the run, which I warmed down from, as usual, by walking Sourdough a mile.

You’ve Got to Be Kidding …

Ok – I know this is crazy – to have a running journal.  After all, it’s just exercise, and since I hate doing it – what’s the point of writing about it.  It’s not something that I’m passionate about or even enthusiastic about.  I just have to do it, cause I don’t want to end up being too much of a blob.

So – I keep seeing these things – about how keeping a running journal keeps you on track, focused and motivated, and I decided that I’d do one just for fun.  It might make running a little more acceptable, if no less painful.

So – my starter’s goal is to run long enough to cover the distance that would constitute a half marathon.  I’m not that far from it (I think), as I’ve been running consistently for more than a year now, and recently began a half-marathon running schedule.

I’m at 7 miles, so we’ll take it from there!