Day 155: Almost DOES Count

Usain Bolt is faster than me. 

Day 155 was a Thursday and a running day. It was also one of these unseasonably, beautifully warm days that have generously followed Snowmageddon 2011, making me want to run outside. We have a great little park nearby (Chastain) that's ~3 miles around and perfect for practicing a 10K. A mostly manageable course with  couple of hard hills, lots of interesting scenery, tons of other runners, etc.

Running on the treadmill in sporadic bursts for 4 miles does NOT mean that I can run all three miles around this park, however. As I discussed with Katie from Running Down a Dream, a 5 mile treadmill run is about equivalent to a 3 mile real run. I haven't gotten up to five miles on the treadmill, but I was REALLY wanting to add "Ran all the way around Chastain Park" to my New Things for the day.

Sadly, it just wasn't meant to be.

I got a mile around no problem, and then up the first half of "The Winding Hill" like a champ, and then got halfway up the second half before thinking I would verifiably stop breathing, keel over, die, and never wake up. So I stopped--and I failed.

I walked maybe another tenth of a mile before starting to run again, down this .8 mile straightaway which I was actually excited about. The last time I ran around Chastain, I had this straightaway like a charm. I was really tired and I pushed really hard to get to the stop sign at the end of the path, but I did it with gusto and was proud of myself.

This time around, my internal dialogue was like "Yeah, I got this. Piece of cake road. This is all down hill from here. Look at me! Woo!"

New day, new run.

I ran all the way, but I was starting to get really, really tired towards the end, but I was pushing through. "Maybe I didn't realize how tired I was getting last time...Gee wilikers this is hard...just keep running kid, you did this before!"

I got to the stop sign, slowed down, and without warning, I started gagging uncontrollably.

WHO AM I??? AM I THAT OUT OF SHAPE?

I felt like one of those kids on MTV's "I Used to Be Fat" who invariably pukes their guts out on their first workout!

So I didn't make it all the way around Chastain Park, although I did make it farther than I had before. Almost doesn't count after all.