Thursday, March 08, 2007

"Speedy" Recovery

Today I called in "sick" to work. My illness can best be described as 'the marathon blues' and I have already taken strides (ha! punny!) to cure it. With some encouragement from Kim (of half-marathon fame!), I met her at the Women Can Run clinic tonight to do some "easy running," (or so I thought). Little did I know that they were going to be timing a 1-mile run. I thought "Ugh! I wasn't planning on having to go fast tonight!" It was my first step back into running, after all. I envisioned 2-3 leisurely miles with Kim, gabbing all the while. No such luck.

We started off together, Kim and I. I told her "let's just take it easy and not kill ourselves." Mind you, I haven't done 'speedwork' in ages. Last summer, while training for the Worldwide Half Marathon, I was elated to be able to do a 10-minute mile (and not a step further). I thought tonight would be slower. WELL... with the first few strides my calves were letting me know that they were against this, but they soon piped down. I was running well. I felt "free" out there. We were talking. At the first quarter-mile lap, we were still together, and on pace to do a 10-minute mile (not earth-shattering, but I'll take it!). By the second lap I had lost her. I think I was 8 seconds ahead of doing a 10-minute mile. I didn't even check my Garmin as I sailed around the third lap. At that point Mindy, one of the leaders who just ran Little Rock, began running beside me. She was trying to give me breathing pointers, etc. I was kind of annoyed, but I know she meant well! As it turned out, having her there with me really made me get into high gear. I'll have you know that I crossed the 1-mile line at 9:18!!! Wowee! I have really improved since last summer. Thank you, Mindy!

After that I just walked the rest of the time. I felt GREAT. I have cured the blues!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! You continue to amaze and inspire me, great work!

Ease back into it, you addict you!

ShirleyPerly said...

Already running fast so soon after a marathon -- I'm jealous!

Good that you have taken steps to avert the ol' marathon blues. If you ever come to the Orlando area, you, me and MarathonChris (who directed me to your blog) need to go for a run together, OK? OK!

Irish Blue said...

I would love to run a 9 minute mile. Hope I get there someday. Awesome!