Ok my wife is now officially one of those running freaks. She wakes up early in the morning on the weekends to get ready to go out and run. She is so excited about it that she actually wakes up earlier than planned because she couldn’t sleep any longer. I, on the other hand, will drag myself out the door in the morning if I absolutely have to. I enjoy running in the afternoon (you know after the sun has actually decided to wake up). Well stupid me, I say to my wife “So, you mind if I try to run with you Saturday morning?” You see Emily is training for a half marathon. I’m training for … well I just kind of go out and run sometimes. I have a goal of the half marathon in December, but the full motivation hasn’t completely hit me. So anyway, Emily is going to run 10 miles. I at this point have never run more than 5, and in the past 3 months have not run more than 4, but I wanted to give it a try. So this is a little recounting of how that all went down.
4:00-5:30 Emily wakes up. I can’t give you the exact time because I like most normal humans on Saturday was not awake.
5:30 She wakes me up and has to put up with quite a lot of whining complaining and pulling the sheets over my head.
5:35 I drag my sorry rear out of bed and start getting dressed.
5:40 Dressed. Yeah that’s right. It doesn’t take a long time to get ready. I still don’t recall the whole ordeal, but I ended up decent enough to walk out into public, and I even remembered my iPod.
5:50 Leave the house. I follow Emily to the car (still complaining at this point) and get into the passenger side. I believe I was heavily under the influence of sleep and in no shape to drive.
6:00 Arrive at the track. Emily wakes me up and informs me that I should stop complaining because she is usually out here at 5:00. Ha 5:00 yeah I always think hmmm it’s 5:00AM let’s go run!!!
6:05 Start running
Ok so we are going to start this run and I position myself right behind Emily because she is going to pace me the whole way.
The Run (from my perspective)
Start – Everything is great. Working out the kinks in the legs and getting everything going because I haven’t run since Monday. I had a real busy week and had planned on running Friday night, but some friends really twisted our arms and talked us into going to get hibachi.
Lap 1 (each lap is a mile) – This is nice. It’s pretty cool outside and the humidity is low. I enjoy the birds that are flying around, and I nod and wave to the people we are passing on the track. This isn’t so bad. I’m getting into my pace now.
Lap 2 – Ha this is nothing. I could run like this forever. It would be nice if my shoes weren’t full of water now, but I guess the whole track can’t drain perfectly. Oh and the birds are still flying all around.
Lap 3 – Yep right where I need to be. 3 Miles is kind of my standard run now, and this feels great. There is a breeze that has kicked up on the last quarter mile and cooled us down even more. Just grab the water bottle on my way past the bench and take a sip to prepare for mile 4.
Lap 4 – Throw the water bottle down next to a lamp post and keep following Emily. I’m starting to feel the run now. There is a good sweat worked up, but my breathing is nice and even. I wave to the people we pass and give a head nod or say hello.
Lap 5 – Well now I’m starting out into my furthest distance. I figure alright just follow Emily. She’ll set the pace all you have to do is follow. This lap goes down no problem. We pass the bench that marks the end of the lap and I start to feel good about myself. 5 miles down oh yeah, and that’s when it hits me YOU”RE ONLY HALFWAY DONE!!!!
Lap 6 – Well the body is now starting to fall apart. The nice running form has now been replaced by a little more of an awkward lope. I look in front of me, and there is my lovely wife just gliding along listening to her iPod. I notice the birds again and nod a hello to a couple of people we pass.
Lap 7 – Oh yeah feeling it now. I grab my water bottle from beside the lamp and swig a good bit of water. That’s nice because now I have water belly. I still stay right with Emily and try to focus on nothing else. Only 3 more laps to go.
Lap 8 – Well now pretty much everything hurts. The thought of stopping and watching my wife keep running I now the only thing that is keeping me going. I see some strange kid with a hornets hat on walking the opposite way down the track. I wonder if I can get his attention and have him bump into me so I can fake an injury and have to stop. That about the time it hits me. If you’ve run a long ways before, you know what it is, but let’s just say I was in danger of becoming a “real” runner. I can’t stop now though, the bag with the “supplies” is way across the park, and besides I can’t stop this close to the end. The fried rice will just have to hold on. Oh well I’ll just keep going.
Lap 9 – Yeah I pretty much sound like a Clydesdale at this point. It’s a good thing Emily has in those headphones because the sounds coming from me would be nothing short of scary. I grab the water bottle again, but I don’t dare take a drink. I’m really depending on the air coming in through my mouth at this point, and drowning on the walking trail at the park is not high up on my to-do list. Of course there is my lovely wife still gliding along. I notice those stupid birds again and completely ignore everyone I pass on the trail. I even start to wonder if I could trip Emily and pass it off as an accident so that we can stop this madness. I know that’s a terrible thought, but when you’re pushed hard enough your body goes into survival mode.
Lap 10 – As we pass the bench again my soul climbs out and goes to collapse on the bench. It’s smart enough to know its limits. My stupid body on the other hand has this pride issue. The rest of that lap is kind of a blur. I think my iPod was still playing and Emily may have turned around to make sure I was still there, but there is no good way of knowing. And then there a couple hundred yards away is that sweet bench that marks the end of this suffering (and of course my soul lying curled up asleep, which I immediately go back to collect).
So we finish. Emily is all excited and walking around. I’m trying to figure out the best place to crawl off by myself and die. We walk over to finish off the run with some stretching. Emily is happy and moving around a lot. I’m trying to keep everything inside of me… well inside of me. My hip is now popping, my left Achilles tendon has started a fire just above my heel, and my knees are not big fans of staying locked in place. We stretch and I drag myself back to the car where I can be chauffeured back to the house so that we can shower change and head to the “Donut Hole” for breakfast with some friends.
So now the plan I guess is to follow that maniac back out there again next Saturday for another round of “fun” to prepare for the Jazz half-marathon.
