Lucky 13

Getting out of bed felt especially difficult this morning. It wasn't as dark as the last few weeks (thank you, time change) yet it was still a struggle. But I was rewarded for responding to my alarm. A few days ago I mapped out a 15km run for this weekend as my long slow day. All the research I've been doing has emphasized that distance and speed should be trained separately: to get your body used to running for longer periods of time just take'er easy for as long as you can. And slowly I went. Once you start getting over 10km the routes start getting long. Unfortunately I missed a section of the route I had mapped since it was almost entirely new. This meant I did not reach my goal of 15km (since I didn't realize my mistake until I was safely on my couch) but at 13kms it was still a personal distance record.

This is officially favourite run so far. I started off slowly, a bit daunted by the distance ahead. I made the mistake of having the first 3-5 kms on pedestrian heavy roads during rush hour so I was slowed by them and by many many traffic lights. But I seemed to gain strength as I ran. Instead of becoming exhausted I began to feel my breathing, to move with the rhythm of the music (Rockefellar Skank!) and even bounce down the road as I widened my stride. For the second half of the run I relished every minute of it, every footstep. I mouthed the words to "Miami" by Will Smith assuming that everyone else on the sidewalk knew I had earned the right to look a bit foolish since I had already run over 10km.

The longer my runs get the more I understand the need to run. The enjoyment factor. It took me (what felt like) forever to reach 10km as I constantly doubted myself, felt uneasy about the distances. The day I hit 10km, G-sis encouraged me by saying that once you hit 10 a huge mental block is gone and the distances seem more manageable. She was right. Half marathon: watch out!