Saturday 15 March 2008

10 Glorious Miles!

(I don't know why I feel the need to take a bathroom picture, but I apparently do. This is from my pit stop on my run this morning.)

I ran 10 miles this morning. I am so glad I got out there and faced these demons. The demons telling me I can't run a marathon. That I am too old to run at all. That I am too fat to run and I must be delusional.

Take That Demons!

I think I discovered something (else) about myself this morning. I didn't go to the park with the other runners - where I feel slow and old and heavy. I went out on roads. On insane hills. The first two miles are downhill- and they give you a really nice start. Kind of like starting on training wheels - I get used to going fast, so my speed stays faster that way. The next mile is up and down. And it has a bathroom stop, and a chance to fill up my water bottle and ready myself for the tough part of the run.

Between miles 3 and 7, it is nearly straight uphill. It is hard. The bikers flying by in the other direction nod or smile or wave at me. I feel it is grudging respect. They know what the grade of that hill is. And a 14 minute mile doesn't look so bad when you are running up a hill at altitude.

Funny, they look at me differently than people at the park do.

And you know what? I feel different about it too. It is fun. I enjoy it. I feel good about myself.

The last 3 miles were fabulous! Great! Marvelous!

I took a gu to have after 4 miles. I was carrying water to wash it down with. I think I prefer doing this to carrying powerade in my water bottle.

I feel great. I am so glad I did this run this morning because I was so discouraged after the fall last week. I stayed with my plan this week and I am on track. YAYAYAY!!!!!!!!

9 comments:

Marcy said...

AWESOME JOB MARY!!!! You look so cute too! I love that jacket, you must dish . . . where did you get it? hehe

Wes said...

You rocked it!! I almost NEVER pay any attention to other runners and cyclists. They are usually leaving me behind :-)

You need to start working on your nutrition plan. When you get above 10 miles, it becomes more and more important. We don't want you bonking between miles 18 and 20 :-)

Hint: You should be practicing it on every long run now!

Since Marcy was obviously the first one by, we know the secrets of the bathroom pics :-D

Unknown said...

I love the attitude coming across in this post. It screams "I CAN DO THIS"

Great job on your 10miler. And I'm glad you found a new route. :)

E said...

Yahoo! Love the pic. Keep up the awesome work!

Michelle said...

Great job, Mary!!!!

Yeah, Marcy has gotten to you when it comes to bathroom pics. LOL!

Joe said...

This is sooooo cool...I'm thrilled for you. Remember this one.

The Gu helps...the planned route helps...the nods from the bikers help. I'm guessing the cute jacket even helps!!

Very, very happy for you. Yes, you can rock this thing. And the weather is only going to improve now.

Way to go!!!

ws said...

great job on the run Mary. Hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Adam said...

Great job. Those miles on the hills will pay off.

J~Mom said...

Excellent!! Just excellent!!!!!!!! I am so happy that you got that run under your belt!!