Pace Yourself

Last night, I went running right after work. I hadn't planned on doing so, but a pretty wretched call at the hospital led to my work day lasting 10 hours instead of the normal 8. So, since I was too late to make it to class (not a bad thing at all!), I went home and relaxed for an hour before heading out for a 2-mile make up run (this was to finish the required miles for Saturday). Somehow I thought this would help me unwind after a long day--and it did! It was a wonderful night--a little bit warmer than I thought when I first left the house, but there was a breeze and an hour left until sunset.

The first thing I learned during my run was that I HAVE TO GET A NEW MP3 PLAYER! I recently broke mine--the result of dropping it 20,384,030 times during runs in the last 5 months, I think--and I borrowed Kalem's pristine player for this run. It always makes it go by so much faster! I know that as I increase my miles, it will be the most important equipment that I own. And also that as Kalem increases his, he will be less willing to lend his to me! So, that's definitely on the shopping list this weekend!

I started off at a leisurely pace, singing along with current "hits". Has anyone listened to music lately?! What is happening?! "F" this and sex with that and all that mess. What happened to good music? The first thing I will do with my future MP3 player is put my much-appreciated music on to it. The one good thing about most of the crap out right now is it's a good pace to run or walk to. Most of it's faster and if you can get past all of the filth they're "singing/rapping" about, it's worth working out to. Sometimes it's really hard to get a good heart rate listening to my India.Arie...she normally just makes me want to sit in child's pose or make a cup of tea and read for the night! I do have to say "I Kissed A Girl" is a freaking great end-of-the-run song. I was pretty beat, but it helped me push through it. I am not ashamed to say that my player will have a lot of Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake on it to get through those long runs!

I know what you're thinking--"why not listen to Kalem's tunes"? Because I can't listen to Nintendo game tracks. It's almost worse than running just with my thoughts--to me; I know Kalem loves them and I love him for it.

Anyhoo. As I said, I started off at a leisurely pace, singing along to the radio. To tell you how slowly I run, there was a very leisurely walker who was ahead of me for most of the run. Well, at one point I caught up to him (I couldn't pass, because my lungs were already threatening to explode) and he became very friendly. Apparently, all I need to increase my speed is a creepy man telling me I'm "doing just fine". I sped up out of hearing distance (like a quarter of a mile away, I certainly could have never lapped him or anything).

The great news is that I blew my pace out of the water. I ran 2 miles in 30:47, which is like 2.5 minutes off of my normal pace (I told you it was normally a slow, sauntering, snail-like pace). My right calf was screaming by the end of it, but after an hour of icing it afterward, I felt fantastic. I am super proud of the fact that I ran so much faster than normal. There is a chance that I will run the required marathon pace (16:02), provided that 1) a creepy, "friendly" guy keeps trying to make conversation and comments on my running "form", and 2) I have some rockin' tunes that can leave my wondering what music is coming to while keeping me at a respectable pace that ends the music torture relatively quickly.

I kissed a girl and I liked it. Hope my boyfriend don't mind it.