I've been wondering recently how many miles I've run since I started all this in November. I need to sit down and add it up one day. Certainly more than I did over my entire lifetime before I started, including runs through airport terminals. Oh, those were the good old days... when you could leave your apartment on East 7th Street at 9am on a Sunday morning and, with a little hightailing, easily be in your seat at LAG by 10am, with bags checked, an upgrade negotiated, and coffee from Au Bon Pain; but after 9/11, I had to say bye bye to my airport workouts!
This week I ran a total of 21 miles. 11 on Monday, 3 on Tuesday, 4 on Saturday, and 3 today, Sunday. I wasn't scheduled to run today but I just felt the desire. Desire... did I just say that? The desire to run? I wouldn't have believed it could have happened; but it has. I was also thinking about my weekly total, which was slightly short changed by my missing a mid-week 5 mile run. And finally, I was thinking of the next two weeks ahead when I'll be traveling. I've got a lot of time on airplanes tomorrow and I hope I can squeeze my scheduled 3 mile run in, but realistically, that might not happen. I'll be in Mexico under armed guard and unless there's a treadmill at my hotel, I can't go out for security reasons. I've seen a picture of our bodyguard and, let's just say, I don't think he's a runner. We shall see!
I didn't break any records today, but ran 3 miles in 33:44/11:15 pace. I started out pretty slow but in the last mile went from 5.6, to 5.8, to 5.7, and then way up to 7.5 mph in quarter mile increments. I was surprised by how fun and good the last quarter at 7.5 mph felt. Of course, I couldn't have kept it up longer at this point, but I'm excited to try putting more (really) fast run time in at the end of future runs. I don't think I've ever run at 7.5 mph before! Not even for a second! My inexperience showed at the end when I tried to just "hop" off the treadmill while it was still zooming and I flew off, giving myself a big bruise on one calf, and scaring the be'jezus out of all the people in the gym! (I'm fine. Luckily. Do not try that trick at home, though!)
I got a great compliment today that I think will sustain me for a long time. Everyone was talking to me in the gym while I was running for some reason, and when I said I'd run the race yesterday, people were like, "Why are you running again today? You need to rest... You're over-doing it. Don't hurt yourself!" There was a big debate about it amongst the people on the treadmills, elliptical machines, and doing free weights; and I just listened, thinking, what do you care? This isn't such a big deal! It's 3 miles! Finally, the lifeguard for the pool, who happened to have come in to check on us and was listening interjected. He's a trainer and work out maniac. He goes, "Guys, she's running today because she's got balls!" He looked at me and I beamed... and everyone else finally shut up. 'Nuf said.
Atta girl.
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