The scariest / best things about Saturday long-runs are that they're always the "longest run I ever did." Now granted, before team in training pretty much any run was the "longest run" but now that I'm actually training regularly that actually means something. What was amazing for me today was looking back to where I was a month ago.
My first pre-TNT run... I set out to the park thinking "how hard can this be" and made it a whopping 3 minutes before thinking I was gonna die. This, ladies and gentleman, is the lunatic who signed up to run a marathon. That first run, I walk/ran from the Columbus circle entrance around towards the 72nd Street transverse and pooped out before I even got half way around the lower-loop. I don't remember the exact mileage off the top of my head but it was barely over a mile.
Today was my 3rd "Long Run" Saturday with TNT--unfortunately I missed last week's meet. I was nervous as this week has been true allergy-hell. Pollen counts have been through the roof and I've been wheezing like a 78 year old chain smoker all week. None the less--I set out to do my best. The TNT coach Ramon told us we run in all weather because there is a possibility it could be bad weather on the actual day of the race. I figured the same holds true for allergy-hell... It may suck to try and run through it but there's no guarantee there won't be something in the air on race-day that triggers uncomfortable breathing. So, armed with a handful of tissues, benadryl and my inhaler I hit the park... for my "longest run ever" of 4 miles. Ok... so some of you may think 4 miles is no biggee, but remember I'm a "non-runner." I didn't run EVER... for anything! Not for a bus, a taxi, to beat the rain... nothing. I was practically keeled over after 3 minutes of slow jogging a month ago, and today I'm proud to say I got through those 4 miles, allergies and all! I walked here and there to get through some coughing, but overall did really well for me! TNT Long run 3... Success!
So today before most had crawled out of bed I had already run 4 miles. (Here's where Charlie and I give a high five.) Then on top of running success Charlie & I saved the day of Central Park tourist. Aright--It wasn't CPR or anything, but we did find a google phone and jumped through way too many hoops to get it back to an apparently indifferent tourist. We're hoping God rewards our efforts by waving his magic wand and making next week's long run that much easier.
So Saturday recap... allergies (bad), 4 miles (not as bad as I thought), finding & returning a g-phone (obviously heroic), my first running blister (ouch), successfully completing my new "longest run ever"... awesome.
Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment