~ No More Pretending ~

It is just about 15 weeks until Marine Corp Marathon.  Oh snap.  Where is the time going?  I am truly feeling excitement.   Fun times in D.C.

The Inception seemed to have worked, so to any and all of you who got into my head, I thank you.   Today, July 20th was my 1st official day of training.   It went better than I could have hoped for.   I was supposed to do a tempo run.   A warm up ~ 3 at 9.22-9.47 and a cool down.   But, as luck would have it, Coach Caleb wanted me to do a 5k time trail.   This could be considered a tempo as well, except I really pushed it.   Hard.   So hard that I thought my legs would fly off.   Thankfully, they stayed put.

I was a bit nervous about this run.   I am really bad at pacing myself and that is something I need to work on, going forward.   Armed with Coach Caleb’s instructions, I got out early enough to beat some of the unrelenting humidity that has been plaguing the East Coast for a while now.   Still wicked hot.  So 1 mile warm up easy and I was off.

I admit, at 2 miles in, I had to stop at the water fountain to slurp up some of the cold goodness, and get some much needed hydration.   I clicked off Barney and after I drank, I walked for about 30-45 seconds.  I didn’t time it.   I was at 17.28 for 2 miles.   That would be my fastest 2 miler to date.   (8.44 min/mile)  That last mile pretty much sucked all the life force out from under me.   I ran my heart out.  I ran my legs off.  I just ran.  I wanted to make Caleb proud.

Here are the stats:

3.1 miles 27.22 8.47 min//mile
Mile 1 8.56
Mile 2 8.34
Mile 3 8.55
Mile 0.11 00.56 (8.19)

I think I even made the old russian woman proud as I whizzed by her in the last mile.   I am also proud of myself, because I worked hard and made it happen.  My mind and emotions are finally, in it.  I really wasn’t sure that would happen, you know, me feeling it.  Wanting it.  Loving it again.   Slowly, it’s coming back to me.   I’ve had a lot of angst over this one.  More than you will ever know.   Even starting having bad insomnia.   Tossing and turning and generally feeling like poop.

Then you take that 1 step back and stay back there as long as you have to.   I stayed back about 2 days.    Then I stepped forward into the light, while being Inceptioned.

All good.   My training plan is still being tweaked.   One new thing that I have decided to incorporate into my training is speed workouts.   But, haven’t you been doing speed workouts already Michelle?   Yes.  And it has been awesome.   I am now ready for a change.  So, next week I will be attending the Nike/Paragon Speed workouts on Wednesday nights.  They do it over at the FDR and 6th St track.   The pacers are right on and if that goes well, I will stick with that throughout my training cycle.

I am not thinking too far into the future, but I do have many plans formulating in my head.   It makes me feel both very excited and a bit butterflies in my tummy.   That’s ok, because the butterflies will keep me on my toes.   Plus, I have my awesome butterfly tattoo on my left shoulder that always keeps me company and always makes me feel as though I could flutter away if I have to.

She’s a beauty, isn’t she?   She keeps me safe on all my runs.

So, I really hope I can make you all proud of me.   But, most importantly, I need to be proud of myself.

No pretending anymore.  This is real life.

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” – Will Rogers