Saturday started off with a morning run with Sarah. We made the loop to the "workout park" that I've referred to in this blog a few times and did one circuit of strength exercises. From there we jogged in and out of streets lined with our dream first homes, into an adjoining neighborhood (with a HUGE PINK inflatable Easter bunny), and back to my apartment building. Towards the end of the run I could tell Sarah was starting to struggle a bit, and she mentioned several times that she was focusing only on keeping running without stopping to walk. She made it, of course. It still seems so bizarre to me the be the one dishing out the encouragement during a run with a partner. We went inside my apartment and mapped out the route we took, and found it was 2.7 miles. (See below.) Sarah was so pumped that she made it that far, only stopping to do a circuit of exercises that still kept our heart rates up...i.e. step-ups. It took a good hour for me to realize that was the farthest she had EVER run continuously...let alone outdoors, which for most newer runners is hard. After seeing her lose FIFTY pounds and undergo multiple personal training sessions by yours truly, I was so glad to have been there to experience that literal milestone with her.
Even though this run was not a physical challenge for me, and much of it was social (chit-chatting about when will we ever be able to afford houses of our own and who is tacky enough to have a HUGE PINK inflatable Easter bunny in their yard?!), it was during this exact run that I decided I could do this running thing for life. After only a few short weeks of being in runner mode 24/7, I don't want this to end after May 8th! I think I could really enjoy a nice Saturday morning jog. I've always refrained from working out on weekends because it really just makes me think of work. For most people, it's an escape (as it is for me most of the time) and everyone else gets a break from the work week so why shouldn't I? God knows I don't need the extra calorie burn beyond what my job gives me. I've never really enjoyed running with other people either. Usually their pace is faster than mine, or they tell me to set the pace but I still feel the pressure to run faster than what I can maintain for long. I decided we were a good running pair. We know each other's fitness level well enough to gauge when to push the other person, but at the same time, I never minded running at a slightly slower pace than my usual so that we could stay together. This run was just so different...it was shared, fun, and not anything resembling work or pain. And that is ok.
Then on to my training run. I decided to take a different approach and screw the 9-mile run I had so diligently mapped out on Friday. Since I had just run 2.7 miles, I split my training run for the weekend into 2 parts. The morning run combined with a 6-miler would give me the total of 9 that I had committed to. Normally, I wouldn't recommend splitting a training run into two parts since endurance is a key factor of a long-distance race. Just this once I decided to try the two-a-day workout because it does have other benefits (think of it as intervals and why they are so successful--when you have minutes where your body is allowed to recover, you can perform at a higher intensity during the designated hard minutes). Sarah and I grabbed some lunch at Panera and wasted approximately 30 minutes of our lives watching the newest Dane Cook stand-up. Allow me to sidetrack here....formally a huge Dane Cook fan, I wasn't finding humor in any of these newest jokes. He started out with tackling some heavy, controversial issues in a serious tone: racism, politics, suicide, rape, cancer, and the death of both of his parents only months apart. He clearly wasn't trying to be funny. Then when he WAS trying to be funny, his jokes were so raunchy and over the top that I wanted to throw up more than laugh. I find it hard to believe anyone in the audience was giving him more than a sympathy chuckle. This was the guy that only a couple years ago made me laugh until I cried; the guy whose lines I would think of in the middle of class and have to try so hard to stifle a laugh. After one too many jokes about STD's and hookers, I decided I would RATHER run 6 miles than continue this nonsense.
Sarah showed me a route in Noblesville (see below) that she and her husband had mapped out as being a 5K loop. I set out to do it twice giving me a mileage of 6.2. What can I say about this run? It went by SO fast!! I knew I was running at a quicker pace than normal, but I was fully expecting to walk back into her apartment, discover I had only been gone for about 30 minutes and tell her she was WRONG. I got back right at 54 minutes (and she re-mapped the route for validity) meaning I, once again, shattered any previous time. Running 6.2 miles on a treadmill, I would have finished at 62 minutes. Even mentally, this run felt equivalent to a 4-mile treadmill run I did on Thursday. Maybe I'm beginning to retract my previous statements about treadmills being so much better?? I can almost hear the "told you so's" from any REAL runner out there. My favorite song of the run was "Beautiful Day" by U2, because it was, in every way.
PS. I did attempt to use a water-holding belt that I found at Dick's Sporting Goods on Friday night. I got about .01 miles into the run and it was jostling all around. The water bottle is supposed to stay right around the hip area, then as I ran it would migrate to the front of my stomach, then my other hip, then behind, always smacking me as I ran, even though I tightened the belt. Needless to say, I ditched it and re-started the run. I'm almost glad it didn't work out after all, because let's be honest....it was a glorified fanny pack.
I finished out the weekend with eating out at some of my favs (Panda Express and Qdoba), a new hair color (mahogany, they call it), a couple glasses of Riesling, sleeping over at Sarah's since Chad had been gone for the entire day/night (making it our first married night apart), church this morning, making the rounds in Anderson with Chad's family, dinner with him at Greek's Pizzeria (new for us, and I highly recommend it!), and finally, putting together some playlists for the cycle classes I am teaching this week.
And no feeling sick after this run:) Only proud, of both myself and my friend (that I ended up spending 25 straight hours with) for what we have termed the The Best Weekend Ever.
i am jealous that i was not there for "The Best Weekend Ever"...would have been better with me there. :)
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