Another "Destination Run" (against my will)

Tonight I found myself on the road again, this time working in Clifton Park, NY, a smaller town just past Albany.

Having decided that despite the 95-degree day (see sizzling pavement) and its oppressive humidity, the sure sign of the storm to come, I absolutely HAD to go for a run (all excuses aside—it had been 6 full days of no running, with my last run the Team Wicked hill workout of last week—frankly, an appalling length of time to go without running). Then again, I admit there is a part of me that hoped the thunderstorm would break in all of its wild nature glory on me mid-run. There is something elemental about running in the rain, which I have always loved to do.

My informal plan for this summer has been to take a break from long-distance running, instead focusing on a faster 5K. I ran my most recent one, the St. Paddy's in March, in 24.21, about a 7:50 min/mile pace. Though it's a drastic leap, I'd like to run a 7:00 min/mile pace, for an overall time of around 21:45. (Thank you, Cool Runnings pace calculator, for doing the math.)

I’ve decided that since I ran a marathon less than two months ago—albeit a slow one—I now qualify as a “runner with a solid endurance base.” Following a Runner's World schedule, supposedly I can be burning rubber in a couple months, or as little as 5 weeks. The first of these runs was today, a "tempo run."

What I did was this:
20 minute warm-up (though I did the warm-up in the heat, I smartened up and headed inside for the rest)
10 minutes at half marathon pace*
2:30 rest—walk/jog (ok, I should have jogged it, and instead walked a minute, then picked it up to a jog for the rest)
10 minutes at half marathon pace*
1/2 mile cooldown

*Note: My fastest half marathon (#2 of 2) was 2:02.27, about 9:20min/mile. In the interest of kicking some serious ass, I went for a pace that I think I could run for a half today, 8:57min/mile. You know what they say...if you want to run faster, you need to run faster. (And not that much of a stretch—I did one 17-mile training run at an 8:50 pace.)

All in all, a bit over 5 miles, I think; maybe 5.5.

Better than that, today was a "good" run. Though it wasn't easy (and I don't expect it to be), today I saw myself as a runner again—something that's been missing, or at lease sporadic in its attentions lately.

Today, covered in sweat, and fumbling for the skip ahead button on my shorts- incarcerated iPod, I happened to look up, into the mirrored wall of the Clifton Park Hampton Inn. There I saw a runner. The thighs I usually think of as a little squishy looked strong, the knobby knees bunched with the flex and rotation of motion, the panes of bony chest and upper body flatly muscular, the arms that were never dainty strong and wiry. Suddenly—suddenly, there I saw myself as more—as the runner I have become, the runner I want to remain, the runner I want to continue becoming—and am capable of being. Maybe not fast, but sure as hell committed enough to get out there and do it.

But not today. :) When instead I’ll drive halfway to meet my beloved for dinner. (Hey, there are multiple ways of feeding the heart.)

So I will leave my fellow runners with this, a quote that happened to fall in my lap this weekend, in a completely unrelated-to-running bookstore browsing:

"When all else fails, start running." —Dean Karnazes

PS This gem came from this book. :)