Chicken Wings and Goose Eggs

Sunday:

I don’t know how my extra-long weekend got reduced to this… It’s almost 6PM… I have 50 minutes… I have waited until just before the chicken goes in the oven…. We are having chicken wings… I can’t enjoy chicken wings unless I have earned them…. So far this weekend I have earned nothing… Okay… so I did earn some applause for my karaoke rendition of “Just a Gigolo” Saturday night but I’ve got two solid goose eggs in my training log.

I stand at the end of my driveway somewhat irritated at myself. I wanted to do 15 today. No real reason I shouldn’t have.

I decide to run the complete loop. It’s ~5.6 miles. I don’t really do the math on how long it will take I just start running…. Okay not quite so fast. I start by jogging/walking/jogging for a minute or so while I dork around with my MP3 player. I finally decide that it’s only going to produce music for one ear…. Whatever….

I plan to warm-up for a mile ~9:30 or so… then run 8:30s.

My first glance at my Garmin shows a pace somewhat north of that due to dorking described above… I just start running…

Mile 1 ends up being a 9:09. It is not really easy or much of a warm-up… It is *running*

At the one mile mark I do, however, kick it into tempo pace. I don’t look at my pace much… just try to stay smooth. I know this route well. I hear the beep…. Mile 2: 8:06… I try not to think too much.

I have this idea that I should test myself and try to run a sub 8 for mile three… being the middle mile and all… so I pick up my pace just a touch… At this point I am in the familiar place now… in the zone so to speak… completely aware of my body and what it is saying to me… yet the world… on the outside is somewhat of a blur…. Mile 3: 7:52

Sixteen seconds… that’s the difference between miles 2 and 3… those 16 seconds get into my head… self doubt creeps in…. it does not help that this is the worst section of my route… along a fairly busy road… the legs feel heavy… I feel myself holding back… knowing that I have not just this mile… but another to run…. I check the pace often… not a good sign. Mile 3: 8:08

I’m not dead tho… and now I have but a mile to go. I have decided to use the final ~.5 mile to cool down… I don’t know what time it is but I know that I’ll be cutting it close with the wings…. 50 minutes… I just run… like it’s raceday… or mile repeats day… I don’t look at the pace… well..okay I steal a peek after 3 or 4 minutes… 7:20… self doubt jumps on my back… immediately… I feel like I can’t hold the pace… I fight through it but the damage is done… I push with all I can muster. Mile 5: 7:34

I run the last .6 with a heavy feet.. but a soul that is lighter by far…

Finish time: 46:48… I shower while the wings cool…..