The Good in Jealousy

The sun peeked out. Shyly at first, as if it wasn’t sure it really belonged in our New England sky. Can’t say i blame it, we have had torrential downpours for weeks on end. Big trees felled by strong winds and vicious lightning bolts. Roads washed out by fast floods, water rushing with nowhere to go. Storm drains and gutters crying mercy as they overflow and spill out.

When the sun got a little braver and its shine became a little brighter my husband announced a bike ride was in order. Having run yesterday, less than 12 hours ago, i planned to prop myself up in a lawn chair and finish an Early Review – after all, a second ER book was plopped on front stoop without warning so i’ve got a ton to get through this month. No more than 30 seconds after the Mister left did i start feeling the bite of jealousy. I needed to get out there, too. But, what about the knee? I could hear myself, the practical one, asking. Oh. Yeah. The knee. Now cautious me was chiming in. Go for it, moi said. Despite cautious outweighing careless i laced up the sneakers, strapped on the ipod and hit the pavement.

It was only a 2.1 mi run, but i completed it in under 20 minutes – haven’t done that since Darfur. It felt good to make my way to Look, see the Swell Season sign (see you tomorrow!) and make my way down the bikepath (haven’t been there in ages, either). I have missed the twisted trees more than i knew. My mister tells me i missed him by *this* much. He too took the bike path home. On his bike – the thing that got me out there in the first place.

So, there is good in jealousy – another run.

Get the Lead Out!

Run Like a Girl

Run like a girl. Girl like a run. I’ve been reading other running/training blogs and they have been half inspiring me, half making me feel like crap. How is that possible? I admire them, yet hate them at the same time. Someone is running the TNT 13.1 tomorrow. Someone else is competing in a triathlon. How dare they? Yet, they rock. Completely. To the core.

So, I got on the tread tonight. Good old gerbil wheel. If i were gutsier i would buy reflective gear and run outside…in the dark. What a trip that would be (yea, on my azz!) I got on the treadmill partly out of disappointment so this run was all about working out the negative emotion. A friend and i had justjustjust made plans to see a movie when all of a sudden she remembered she was supposed to see “her man” (a self described ‘fling’). She said she didn’t want to be “that”girl and i believed her. But, i couldn’t help thinking if he were really a fling she wouldn’t have any problems canceling with him to hang out with a friend, me. No matter. I’m cool with it, but that still doesn’t stop me from being disappointed.

So, I ran to erase the guilt i had for not being able to shrug it off. After all, i can admit, i was once “that” girl, too. I found someones training schedule in a recent blog and thought i would try my hand at it (or legs as the case may be):
10 minutes @ 11.5mi pace
15 minutes @ 11mi pace (only my tread doesn’t have 11min exactly so it was 10.9mi pace)
15 minutes @ 10mi pace
5 minutes @ 11.5mi pace

Instead of knocking back to 11.5 after chugging at 10mi pace I slowed down 1 min at a time:
6.0
5.9
5.8
5.7
5.6 where i ended. 4.22 miles in 45 minutes. I used the same playlist as the last run. No big revelation there!