Monday, July 26, 2010

My Pro/Con list

First, discussion of my run this morning. I woke up at 6:30 with my BF trying to shoo him off to work after which I prepped for a nice early morning pre-atlanta-heat-humidity-run. I discovered my ipod was dead and WAS starving so I didn't actually get out the door till 7:45. I knew the time addition was going to make it HOT on my way back.

As punishment for not running this weekend, and also pigging out most of the time in-between, I challenged myself to a long run on my own.  Meaning sans my favorite running partner: the BF.  The toughest route I have in my arsenal goes to Piedmont park via 10th street. 10th is hilly and traffic heavy. And when I say hilly I mean really hilly, and long hills nonetheless.  It's 2 miles to the park exactly and I had decided to run around and then run back. At first I thought I might be able to get a 10k in..but that just wasn't happenin.

Let's just run the totals:
Miles: 5.53
Time: 51:24.22
Avg Pace: 9:17 (UH? was I being chased??)
Avg BPM: 159
Max BPM: 194 (Near Death)

The 2 miles there were nice and easy, surprisingly. I also almost got lost in the park..failure. The heartrate strap of the BFs Garmin popped off my body (er?) which gave me a much needed little break to put it back on. I got extremely lucky on the way back as well with stoplights and traffic. It was like Atlanta was saying "no wait, take a break here!".  That was the only reason I probably held that absolutely ABSURD pace listed above.  I was on the way to crushin my 10k time.  The breaks make that null and void though.   Either way, I'm very happy with the run. My knees are a tad achy today but nothing a fantastic dinner of waffles and some IB profin cannot fix. 

Now time for my Pro/Con list of running. 

I grew up a swimmer. Recruited for Fort Belvior's Swim Team (FBST) when I was 7 I immediately immersed myself in the swimming world.  Even after moving off the military base I continued to swim till I was 13.  I then took a 3 year hiatus and restarted on my high school swim team my junior year.  Junior year, senior year, summer after...I just swam all the time. I loved it, I loved training for it, and I love the people.  I continued to swim in college on GT's swim club for two years.  Intense training lead me to even faster times than in high school and drove me deeper into my obsession with it.  After a horrible championship meet I had had enough though.  I had trained for months and months and suddenly none of it was worth it. No PRs, not even swims that felt good. I was extremely discouraged.  I decided to shy away from swimming.  Running was my next route. 

It has taken a long time to get used to it. It's completely different than swimming and is even worse for my asthma.  I don't know why, but I'd always wanted to be able to run.  Now I have been running on and off long enough (on now, off before this summer) that I can compile my proper Pro/Con List...

First the CONS
  1. Sweat. Holy crap do I sweat a LOT. Even with proper running clothes and non-coton shirts...and men's deodorant.  In the pool, I don't sweat. And if I do I sure as hell can't tell. 
  2. Atlanta is not flat. Anywhere. That's more of a location problem then a running problem, but it's going in here because it's true.
  3. When I first started, I was hungry all the time. I mean ALL the time. I now carry about 100 calories of snacks per hour I'm away from my apt if it's going to be a long day. Otherwise I go into heinous bitch mode.  No one likes that mode.
  4. This will sound strange, but my swim club nickname is muffins. It's for my boobs. I'll just say it outright, I've always had big boobs. Now that I run? Well my body fat percentage has gone down a lot. So have those. Only I would be so whiney.  
  5. Seriously, last whiney thing. My clothes don't fit. They're too big. I need belts. I need pins. I need a personal tailor. It's annoying. It's expensive. Sounds like a great problem. It's not. 
 Ok That's done. Not too long, but true. I now understand why all the runners I know are so skinny. You literally have to try to keep body fat on yourself. I think about eating fatty food. And I pray it goes all to my boobs and ass. Instead I continue to turn into the runner-stick-figure. Ballin. 

PROS
  1. I can eat whatever I want. Almost whenever I want. When you're running 15+ miles a week, that hunger every few hours may be annoying, but it's fantastic for food lovers. I happen to be a food lover. 
  2. I have finally lost the weight I've always wanted to. I am currently smaller and fitter than I've ever been in my life, even at peak of swimming. The lack of clothing choices I have right now (One pair of shorts, almost no skirts.) is worth how much healthier I am now compared to high school.
  3. The runners high is everything and more of what people see. There is nothing like getting up at 5:00, running, being showered and to work before 8:00AM and feel amazing.  It's better than coffee, it's better than chocolate (...maybe..) and It's worth having to go to bed early for. 
  4. I get to think, or not think. To organize my life, or not. My brain kind of floats wherever it wants when I'm going at a pace where I'm not dying up hills. It's think time. 
  5. It's something I can do with the BF. The love of my life, who coincidentally actually got me into running as well, is my favorite running partner.  I love getting up at 7 and running with him.  He may be a lot faster, and can run a lot further, but knowing he's there to help me and train me is the best support I've ever had. I may have yelled at him a few times during some training runs in the beginning but he obviously knew more than I did how far I could push myself. I'm glad someone knew. 
  6. Not-so-free-T-shirts. Unlike college where you really do get free T-shirts, there's an entry fee..but races are amazing and the T-shirt is a bonus. I love races because everyone is so happy. No matter how early the start, runners are some of the happiest people I've ever seen. 
  7. I'm out of my party phase. I hate feeling sluggish in the morning or on a day where I want to run. And I definitely hate ruining a day of a good run with too much beer. Consequentially I'm a lightweight and don't go out as much. Instead I cuddle up with the BF, watch a movie, cook some pasta, and get up with the sun to run around the trails. It's worth it.
So despite the fact that none of my clothes fit and I'm constantly hungry. Despite that I go to bed early to get up early for no apparent reason to outsides. Despite that I'm not the most social and party 21 year old college student, I'm absolutely in love and stuck on running.  And can't wait to keep going and get better. It's worth every con because every pro counts twice.  

Speaking of run, I'm thinking 4 miles tomorrow?

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