Journey to the 5K Report: 1 Mile: 11:35

So this would be Friday's Progress Report coming in on Tues morning. Somewhere in there time passed and suddenly Tues was already upon us. Weekend slipped by in the company of much loved friends and then Monday came and didn't go so well.





But I did it. I ran a continuous mile. It was far from the fastest mile ever run by mankind but it was the fastest mile I have ever accomplished...which was enough for me. 11:35. The last mile I ran was some 6 1/2 years ago when Aubrey was a mere 6 months old. That was the only mile I had ever run or would even run until last week. Time on that was 12:56. So, I have done nothing but improve despite my 6 1/2 year absence of any physical exertion. I'm pretty proud of 11:35. The goal is a 10 minute mile. I've been running 8 minutes at a time and recovering for 2 and then running another 6-8. So the 11:35 run was a test of my absolute endurance and pushed me to the limit. But I don't have it in me to fail. It is not in me to be defeated.....except when it comes to making bread. But even then...I know me and I'll be back at making it again in about 4-6 weeks. And I'll go through yesterday all over again...until I finally succeed at it.





So, running.....I couldn't quit. A mile was a mile and I was determined to run it....more importantly....finish it. Fanatical husband heard of my mile test and was more than a bit inspired to encourage me in my endeavors. With him by my side I set out to conquer. By the end of it I was quite convinced I would never take him running with me again.....ever. With course laid out courageous self was feeling up for the challenge. Flat mile laid out with 20 mile per hour winds taken into consideration, course planned accordingly, I felt confident in the fact I know my landmarks well. Great familiarity of them and what I am capable of accomplishing, I figured this would help in getting me all the way home....intervals of running into the wind and running with it. I was confident that when the mind games began and the going was far beyond comfortable.... far beyond merely tough.....and the mind became a cruel place that this would be the needed boost to attain my mile goal.




But, as it was, loving husband had an altogether different plan in mind....one that accomplished the goal of royally convincing me he'd never be welcome to accompany me again and that I'm quite capable of going it alone. But, of course, after it was all said and done, goal accomplished and I was feeling like quite the victor I was ready to do it all again....with him by my side. In fact, he was the only reason I managed to accomplish what I did and come back with feelings of single-handedly conquering the world.




So it was that I set out with him by my side. I began to run and he led me away from my well beaten path and onto lonely Texas highway.......in which we ran uphill against 20 mile an hour winds. Resistance training has a whole entirely new meaning to it these days. Words that were far from kind or permissible somehow voiced themselves in the pain. Encouraging husband gave the command to stop wasting breath and put the energy into the pain. So it is that I cussed and struggled and gasped for any amount of air I could get and continued on, pushing farther than pain itself with coaxing husband encouraging me the entire way. What becomes quickly laughable is when sweet town people come up after the fact and say..."Saw ya out runnin today. Ya looked good!" Ummm.....you apparently weren't looking at me running cause I was the one who was sucking wind barely making any progress looking more like a half dead elephant rather than the competitive athlete I have envisioned. But I suppose to their geriatric selves anything looks good out running....whether it be the half dead, gasping elephant that lives down the street or the occasional random donkey that escapes the confines of it's pastures.





So it was that I ran my first true continuous mile in eleven and a half minutes. 1 down and two more to go. After my mile I rested for 2 minutes and then continued to run another half mile...this time on flat terrain but still against the harsh west Texas winds. The sucky part.....my shins hurt so bad right now that running husband fears I am in danger of injury and being out for quite some time. But pain has never been known to slow my highly driven self so I am tempted to run despite his warnings. The danger....if I really do some major injury to them I won't be able to run for a good 2 months..which would then disqualify me from the 5K. So, I've resorted to the Wii for a week while my shins figure out they are actually being required to do something. I'll resume running next week...hoping that I can pick back up and just add to my mile...and a half.



And to keep it real and keep me grounded in humility...stories of my adventures in running. Dressed in layers for warmth...which I quickly found I didn't need after about the first 2 minutes...I was wearing black spandex ankle length leggings covered by gray sweat pants. At one point during the 8 minute segments of running I began to feel a little odd.....what I thought to be my underwear beginning to have some issues and working its way down to my knees. The more I dwelt on it.....to keep my mind off of the pain of running...the more odd I thought this scenario to be due to how entirely tight my spandex leggings were. I had no desire to break the running to remedy my problem so I just continued forward, figuring I was the only one suffering from the discomfort of it. When I finally reached the end of my 8 minutes I went to correct my small but inconvenient problem. Trying to be entirely nonchalant in front of the many hidden eyes of the town I found my underwear to be precisely in place....but much to my horror, my sweat pants down around my knees. In all of my grandeur of trying to conquer the world I quickly came to the realization that I had run a good quarter of a mile through town with my sweat pants at my knees. Had I not had on the spandex that is so tight it is merely one step away from being painted on I could've added streaker to my list of things accomplished in life. Laughter began to overtake me as I looked for Mother who was following behind. Incredulously and breathlessly asking..."WHY did you not tell me????" Her answer......she couldn't get enough breath to make me aware of my problem. Nice.