Thunderstorms at 3 AM!!! Ah, the lovely sound of rain on the roof at 4:30 AM. I so wanted to turn over, snuggle under the covers and skip the gym. But, a little voice kept prodding me…. “Kristin, wake up. Kristin, you will feel better later today if you get your workout in. Kristin, you’ve stuck to the training schedule for 3 weeks, don’t blow it.” I got out of bed. As soon as I shut the bathroom door, Ozzie, my ever faithful tabby cat, was twisting at the door knob asking to come in. His beautiful deep green eyes looked at me softly asking for his morning food. As I filled his bowl, he stretched deeply and gave me a good morning chirp. I’m already glad that I got up.
I walk into the gym just a couple minutes past 5:00 AM. Wendy, behind the front desk, already has locker key #82 in her hand. I don’t know how she remembers, but she does, it is a nice welcoming gesture. What the heck? The place is already busy with people running on the treadmills, stepping on the ellipticals and lifting weights. They must sleep outside the gym and if Wendy opens the doors a few minutes early, they’re in!
Today was a running day for me. I’m into an every other day training routine sometimes taking 2 days off after a long, slow run. I’m not going to get hurt this time out. I’m sticking to the training schedule and not trying to do more than this old body is capable of. It dawned on me the other day that I’ve never really run. I didn’t run as a kid. I didn’t have to, I had a pony. I certainly didn’t run in college. How unseemly to run. Didn’t know people actually made a sport of it. So with that lack of a running past, I’m trying to systematically train for a marathon in October. Today’s session was interval work. I ran intervals of 3 to 5 min of running with 1 min walking recover in between. With each interval, I progressively increased my mph by .1 mph ending up at 6.7 mph. I covered 6.2 miles, a little further than I intended but it felt so good. A few weeks ago, I read a comment by a long distance runner that the first 3 to 4 miles are the most difficult and after that everything feels good. And, that most runners never do more than 3 or 4 miles so it all feels bad. I have to agree. After the first 3 miles, I feel great and feel like I can do most anything. Those first miles though, awful! I’m getting tired of all the treadmill running. We were so spoiled in Chicagoland by such a late winter arrival. But now, the roads are icy (although things are melting rapidly today) and I’m too old to take the risk of a fall. I cannot wait to get back to running outdoors.
The little voice was right. I feel better having done the work out. The extra sleep is nice but the feeling of satisfaction from a workout can’t be beat.
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