Annnd....I finished 3.1 miles over 2 minutes under my current 5K PR!!! WOOHOO!!!! I am pretty darn excited.
Let's back up a bit...remember my gigantic bag o' running clothes I dragged with me to school this morning?? Well, I'm glad I brought all of that stuff because the weather definitely was not what I expected! When I left school, it was a perfect temperature for running. About 60 with a breeze...cool enough to be comfortable but just warm enough for shorts. Perfect. Even more perfect that I got to run here:
Since my IT band was a little sore today, I decided I was going to take the run easy but experiment a little with my pace. Since I trained for the entire Disney Princess Half on the treadmill, I am still figuring out what a naturally comfortable pace is for me. You know, when I haven't programmed the treadmill to go at that pace.
Well, about .5 miles into the run, my ipod just...stopped. No "dead battery" light flashing...no explanation...just dead. Oh well. It was an older generation shuffle I had picked up on ebay last summer...it happens. So I found myself running outdoors in the forest preserve without any music. And I can't even remember the last time that happened. Occasionally my ipod will die when I'm at the gym, but it's so loud there already. This was a totally different experience...and I kind of loved it.
When I was a junior in college, a local teacher came to speak to the ed students about his experiences. He told us about how he had run the Chicago Marathon a few years ago and how he had used his time running every morning to pray for his students. I always thought that was kind of cool. When my ipod died, my thoughts naturally gravitated to one student who has a pretty tough life and for whom I often struggle having enough patience...so I decided to use the quiet time to pray for my students one by one down the alphabet. I'm not telling this so you will think I am a super awesome person, I'm just sharing because it ended up being a really awesome experience. It was the perfect thing to occupy my thoughts...that is up until I realized that I had a chance of finishing my run under 33 minutes, my 5K goal for this summer. Then it was time to kick things into high gear. I'm a big fan of mantras, especially when you need a little extra boost to finish strong, and today's was an old favorite:
I do want to share this picture since I have received a few comments lately (from multiple people...) about the fact that I CLEARLY wear my pink compression socks a million times in a row without washing them since there is no humanly possible way that I do laundry as frequently as I wear the socks! I DO have another pair of recovery socks that just don't make it into pictures as often because...let's face it...they're just not as cute.
I promise these socks are at least semi-clean...
Sadly my wonderful mood was nearly ruined when the gas light went on in my car (unfortunately even Priuses need gas sometimes...) and I was greeted with this sign upon pulling into the gas station:
Oh well, ridiculous gas prices aside, this evening was pretty wonderful. I am definitely going to try running without music more often!
Do you run with music? Do you ever run "naked"?
I still had my garmin so it technically wasn't a "naked" run, but no music is a big step for me!
What's your favorite "running mantra"?
For me it's a tie between "reach for it, work for it, fight for it," "trust the process," and "when my body feels weak I run with my heart." I would love to hear any favorites you have!
So cool about your run! I love that you turned your thoughts that way. I love the release of basically not thinking too much during running. I'm scared to run naked!
ReplyDeleteUgh and gas is TERRIBLE :(
How wonderful! My 5k PR is 32:14 and I am dying to beat it. We should try to PR together!
ReplyDeleteI don't run with music anymore, though I'm tempted to try again after discovering jog.fm.
My running mantra? Forward is a pace.
That's awesome! So glad you achieved a goal! I had a good run today, as well. I am running a 5K this weekend where no headphones are allowed, and it's stressin' me out. I ran a 10K 2 weeks ago without one, but it was a huge, epic 10K with tons of people around. I always seem to end up by myself running in these small 5Ks. I find I focus so much on my breathing without my music.
ReplyDelete4 gallons? BIG spender! I bought 59¢ worth of gas the other day to avoid running out... mostly in pennies! The dude was NOT pleased :P
ReplyDeleteAwesome job CRUSHING your PR! I love runs that give that "infinite" feeling :)
i am so happy for you and your new pr!! (ps - you are speedy!!)
ReplyDeletegreat job!
amazing! what a GREAT feeling to see improvement like that! way to go :)
ReplyDeletemy favorite mantra is "strong and confident"
Congrats on a great run, it's been such a pleasure to read this. And remember there are no slow runners. We're all runners no matter what time we run. But if you want to speak of slow: I am too.
ReplyDeleteThe prices for gas are sky high heere too. I try to use my car as less as possible but still have to go to work with it every day.
Oh and I've never run without music and prefer not to either. I had my Ipod die on my once and turned around and went home :)
ReplyDelete