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October 30, 2005
I remember now why I'm a marathoner
Because 5ks are simply too painful. I don’t like that constant feeling that my lungs will explode or that I will throw up. Not fun times. And those feelings were quite evident in the 5k I ran yesterday. Did I ever suck wind. I warmed up for 2 miles on the course, which ended up being a good idea as later I would know how far I had to go to the finish. It was in the low 40s and a bit windy, so I decided to go with a sleeveless shirt and shorts because I do better comfortably cool. My first mile split was a conservative 7 minutes, but when we hit the 2 mile split at 14:30, I didn’t think we had slowed down THAT much despite a teeny incline. The course was entirely flat otherwise. An older lady and I jockeyed back and forth from 1.5 miles on, but she was tougher and pulled me into the finish behind her in 22:38. Not my finest but considering how much I love 5ks (NOT) and have been practicing for the distance (NOT), it’ll do for now. I mainly ran it to gauge my fitness level for the annual Marine physical fitness test I’ll be taking next week. It involves a flex arm hang (pull ups for men), sit-ups, and a 3-mile run. I’ll max the first two events, no sweat. But I always get violently anxious to the point of dry heaving before the run. I feel a self-imposed pressure to beat most everyone, at least all the gals. I’ve always maxed it in the past (21 minutes), though I’m not so confident this time around. I’m really gonna have to bust a gut to go sub-7 miles. I wonder if I should do some tune-up speed work on Tuesday to get in the right mental state. If so, what should the workout be? I’ll take any recommendations.
Best to not stress about that now. There’s nothing I can do about it on Sunday night. It was another busy social butterfly weekend with one of my best friends in town to run the Marine Corps marathon today. Yesterday, we visited the new Botanical Gardens downtown with our other very good friend. It smelled so beautiful. Who knew that plant life could be so interesting. The exhibits just lent themselves to touching and smelling …and I’m not usually a big smeller of things. Like my mom taught me when I was a kid that it was rude to smell your food. Anyway, we met up with some other friends to carb load and that was good times because I hadn’t seen some of them in years, as various military assignments have taken us to opposite sides of the world.
Early this morning, we drove D. as close as we could get to the race start and ate breakfast before meeting up with the running club to set up a cheering station on the 14th Street Bridge, just like we did last year. And again, we had trouble finding how to get on the bridge because there are different sections, some of which were open to traffic. It was frustrating, but finally found our way without having to play Frogger with oncoming traffic. I was so exhausted after whoopin’ and a hollerin’ for hours and did not look forward to my fate of a school paper and conference call for our notional digital camera business. If only automatic naptime were built in to every day, I’d be a happier camper. At least I’m done for the night. I’m going to catch up on sleep once I get everything together for tomorrow. Got to fit in the run early or it won’t happen at all. Nighty night!
Posted by Leilani at October 30, 2005 08:18 PM
Comments
Just curious, what is the time you are required to run for the 3 mile fitness test?
Posted by: Dawn at October 30, 2005 08:56 PM
Good luck at your fitness test! You'll do well, I'm sure, even though you are in marathon shape rather than 5K shape. Your fitness is probably many times above and beyond the other people you're testing with.
Posted by: Meghan at October 31, 2005 01:10 PM
Good job in the 5k. It's funny because even though 5k's are painful, I prefer them to a 10k because you get the pain over with faster. Same thing with an 800 vs. a mile or the mile vs. the 2-mile.
Posted by: Caitlin at October 31, 2005 06:40 PM
Now you are onto something Leilani - automatic nap time!!!! How do we vote for it? I bet we could get many others to buy into your idea... :)
Great job in your 5K. Those buggers are seriously painful aren't they? :)
Posted by: Beth at October 31, 2005 07:46 PM