Day 167: All the Way Around!

On day 167, I finally ran all the way around 3-mile, winding, hilly Chastain Park, no stopping!

This in and of itself sounds pretty good compared to my last attempt at running around this park, but what makes it better is that I had taken a four-hour red eye flight from Portland to Atlanta that morning, slept for about two of those hours, got into Atlanta at 6:00 AM, WENT TO WORK, and came home and ran the best I ever have.

Oh, and that I hadn't run in the four-ish days I had been in Portland, and had turned my bloodstream into beer and doughnut superhighway. 

(NOTE: This is also impressive behavior post-overnight flight if you remember after my San Diego red eye, that I slept from 11:00 AM to 5:30 PM.)

But yes, the run was simply fantastic. I got up the winding hill no problem, as if I had blown the hill up in my mind to be way more of what it ever was. The long straightaway that I almost puked on last time was just a breeze, and I rounded the corner, ready for the next hilly climb with plenty of juice left in the tank. When I got to my car, I even thought that I should just keep running because I felt so good. I didn't keep going because all the race training guides say to take it easy the week of the race, but now, 6 days in retrospect, I wish I had seen how far I was capable of.

I'll see on my next run :)

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.