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The gradual return to normalcy
Written by Nathan on January 24, 2009 at 11:23 pm from A Month of Resolve.
Written by Nathan on January 24, 2009 at 11:23 pm from A Month of Resolve.
For most of my life running has been a pleasure. Of course, I’ve always had a limit and when I approached that limit the joy of running would quickly evaporate. But never have I associated running with pain until this project. So when I ran today, and managed to log two miles without complication or issue, I was especially happy.
Even better, I ran my two miles in 15:28 minutes, with my first 1.5 in 10:50. Those are bests for me so far, and I managed to do the run without really pushing myself. When I was done, there was no leg pain and the entire experience felt normal. Given how elusive normal has been the last 10 days, I have renewed hopes for finishing this month well. My only real weak spot came during a specific song on my playlist where I lost focus and walked for nearly two minutes. The moment I realized what I was doing, I started running again (and kept running, fast, until I finished), but the damage was done.
The time you spend can never be regained. No matter how fast I run afterwards, every few seconds of walking causes irrevocable damage to my time and there’s really no excuse. If I’d stayed focuses, perhaps I’d be reflected on a 14-minute 2-mile run. Or a first mile and a half in less than 10 minutes (I briefly walked around the 1.25 mark). But instead I let too much time seep away.
Granted, I need to pause occasionally else I’d probably keel over. But 2 full minutes of walking, so close to the end, just because the song wasn’t motivating is a supremely lame reason to underperform in what could’ve been a genuinely respectable time.
On the upside, this beat my best-ever timed 2 mile run. The previous best took place in high school when I was trying out for soccer. The coach had a rule that no one could try out for the team unless he could run two miles in less than 16 minutes. I spent the winter fattening up, and when the spring came I was completely unprepared. I slowly lapped the track until with 100 meters to go heard the coach shout that I only had 15 seconds left. I really wanted to play soccer, so I sprinted with everything I had and finished with 15:59. I was 14, and was in the last group cut from the team 2 weeks later.
After getting cut from soccer, I started running with the track team and that 15:59 was probably the slowest time I would’ve posted in high school if I’d ever timed myself again. But I never did, so I can take additional encouragement that so many years later my absolute fastest run is just barely faster than the slowest (but only timed) run I did in my youth. If I can recapture a little more of that decade-old form, maybe I’ll have a decent shot at W.