As week 10 ends, I pause to ponder before tapering beings

Well, today was my last long training run and the end to week 10, which means there are only 2 weeks left until the NWM Half DC!

I don’t think I have much to say about today or the last few days. On Thursday run club went to Roosevelt Island, which was cool because I hadn’t been there yet. I didn’t, however, enjoy the gravel and pebbles on part of the trail as I felt like every two steps forward only netted about a step and a half in my VFFs. Today’s run was supposed to be 11 miles and I hate to say it, but I don’t think I quite got there. (I usually make it a point to myself to not only hit the distance I’m trying for but surpass it a little.) It is not for lack of trying, and I definitely had the energy to keep on going. The problem was actually that at 4.8 miles in we took a quick break for someone to tie the their shoe, and unfortunately I did not press ‘Resume Run’ on Nike+ like I thought I had. I always get paranoid that I may do this because I’ve done it once before. So around six miles I gave in to my paranoia. Sure enough my run was still “paused.” I didn’t dwell, but I was also not the only person to have accidentally run with a Nike device paused for over a mile. We had expected that our new route would be about 10 miles and that we just needed to tack on an extra mile running around the monuments. With all of our mileage counts being off we were playing a guessing game from then on. I tried to do a few down-and-backs here and there but I think I ended with somewhere between 10.6 and 10.8 miles after checking Gmap Pedometer. Oh well, right!

This 10+ mile run was so much different than last weekend’s. It was nice to be back with run club because I ran with 3 other people. One of the pacers is definitely running the half with me, and while I know people say not to expect to run with the person you train with on race day, I think it will be good for me. It is the first half marathon for both of us, but as an ex-sprinter I don’t think she’s comfortable yet with pacing herself for long distances. So, we will run the race together but essentially I will run my race as I want and she will use me as her pacer. Maybe we’ll cross the line together or maybe we’ll catch up after. Either way, it will be nice to start with someone to keep any last-minute nerves down and have some support in the race since I surely will not have any support at the race otherwise.

Anyways, after the run I went with a couple people to brunch. It was nice to get to know some of the run club crew a little more and enjoy myself a bit longer. I still feel guilty about eating a waffle though, but I’ll get over it. 😉

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So I have been really stressed and frustrated this week. I’ve been using my last two runs as time to completely empty my head and just run without having to think. It has been nice, but I am still going to have to deal with the present and the future… I wish I could just focus on this race and running though. I feel like it is the one thing in my life I have true control over. I won’t say it is the one thing I am good at, because it’s still a learning process for me and I am a capable person in other skills, but sometimes I feel like it is. It’s the one thing right now I know I want to be doing, that makes me happy, and that I see myself doing in the future no matter where I am. As cheesy as it may sound, running challenges me and inspires me almost every day. Maybe I’m fangirling, but I have a love affair with running at the moment. And why not? It’s not like I’m going to be in any other kind of relationship anytime soon. We are still in the honeymoon stage, and for once in my life I am a [naïve] optimist and think that just maybe it will sustain like this for a long time to come.

In other notes of semi-randomness, they have finally announced the NWM SF as October 20th! This is exciting as it will be the 10th anniversary, and hopefully they finally get the organization right this time so it’s not as chaotic in the city as it always is. This brings me back to thoughts on the future though. I plan to be back home in SF in May for ideally a year minimum, but nothing is sure in the slightest until I find a damn job. I would like to think that I will be able to do so and find a place to live too… So I need to decide in the next two weeks whether I’d like to sign up for the lottery for the NWM and try to get into the race. I also wonder whether it should be my first marathon, or I should just stick to halfs for 2013 and not get ahead of myself. Another factor is that with the opening of the new Bay Bridge span on Labor Day weekend there will be walk, bike, and run races. If I am indeed settled into the Bay Area at that point, my sister and I plan on doing the run together. But of course there have been no details released on it yet. I also want to get Outside Lands tickets once they make the official lineup announcement this week. These are all things that require planning and paying, but can I go ahead and do that if I’m not sure what my work situation is going to be? Dilemmas, they make the world go around.

In the meantime, I need get back out of my head for a little while since the combination of being stressed and not doing anything about it is only perpetuating the cycle. So I am going to finish eating my apple and engorge myself in “Spirit of the Marathon” for the first time.

Geez, looking at all I just wrote I guess I really did have something to say I just needed to start writing to realize it.

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