Thinking ALL The Things!

Today I had to run alone.

That gave me lots of time to think of awesome things to write about in tonight's post. And I did come up with lots of things, but apparently I can't stay focused on one thing for very long when I run so I never got very far with any of them. So today's post will be a sampling of all the things I thought about writing about but never fully developed. I hope you enjoy it!

So the first idea I had was to talk about this pattern I've started to discover in myself. Pretty much every time I start a run, this is how I feel:

This happens especially when I'm alone. I get all tired and think about how it's no fun to breathe this fast without a break and wonder how I'm ever gonna make it to the end of the run and why I ever thought it would be a good idea to run 13.1 miles all at once. Twice in the same 6 months.

But then, once I've run 2 miles -- pretty much every single run ever -- I start feeling like this instead:

It helps sometimes to know that I'll feel good in like 20 minutes, but it is a long time to wait. Luckily as soon as I started thinking about that, my mind moved on.

I saw a couple people wearing shirts from various places I associate with certain people. One guy was wearing a Los Alamitos shirt (where my dad is from and my grandparents & Godparents live, as well as where another friend of mine grew up) and one girl was wearing an Upper Arlington sweatshirt (assuming it's the one in Columbus, my friend MaryPo at least worked and maybe lived there). I also saw a couple wearing Northwestern gear (where the very same MaryPo went to grad school for journalism).

This is MaryPo. I think we may have gone running once.

I also thought about writing about various things that motivate me to run. Today, I was surprisingly tired after work. Usually when I'm tired like that I can barely keep moving, but today I was running rather faster than usual (I'll talk about that more later) because all I wanted was to be done and get home to a shower and sweatpants. I was also more willing to push myself today because it was cooler than it has been - 60s today guys! - and because a friend's grandfather died this weekend and I was offering my run for their family today. You all also helped out some. I'm glad I stole Other Colleen's blog-writing idea because no matter what is actually true about your interest in what I write, I feel obligated to be truthful and try hard so I don't disappoint you...

Then I spent some timing remembering when I first started running and the few things I learned then from my good friend Galli.

St Patrick's Day 2010. He made disgustingly green eggs.

He was the first person to take me running, back at the RecPlex at UD my senior year. He was in much better shape than I and would entertain me by telling long stories to keep my brain occupied and not focused on how out of breath I was or how much my legs hurt. He also had a somewhat obnoxious habit of telling me I needed to start running again every time I caught my breath (I still hear it in my head when I finish a run sometimes). He did teach me a few important things, however: stay as upright as possible, don't move your arms much, and keep your breathing slow - a few steps in and a few steps out. I still count how long my breaths are when I run. Usually I stick to 4 or 5 steps breathing in and 3 or 4 breathing out, which is actually how I could tell I was running so fast today - it was more like 3 in, 3 out for much of the run.

Then that made me think of pretty much the only thing I've changed since then: my stride. Lydia the trainer said that maybe my knee was hurting earlier this year because my muscles were all tight and perhaps because I was running with a heel strike instead of a mid-foot strike. So now I try to run with a mid-foot strike. My leg pain a couple weeks ago may have been part of my body getting used to running differently. Silly body.

This is what it looked like at the end of my run. The picture really doesn't do it justice. It was gorgeous.

Near the end of my run, I was wondering how fast I was actually going. I knew it was faster than I'd ever run (except maybe that one time I ran to get my energy out after what those of us on the Notre Dame MTS intramural volleyball team of Spring 2012 like to call the Valentine's Day Massacre), but I wouldn't let myself check.

**DRUMROLL PLEASE**

I ran the loop in 31:31 today, guys!!! That's almost a 10-minute mile! I know, I know. Pretty slow. A 10-minute mile is me pushing it harder than I did today. But whatever, it's the fastest I've gone yet so I'll take it. Go me!!