May 3rd, 2010 – 5.12 Mile Run

The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”

I wanted to do a different route tonight. It was nice to do something different. I was running toward the sun at the beginning and away from it at the end. I didn’t realize how much that would affect the run. Wow!

Mile one was really nice and usually I’m not a fan of mile one. At about the 1.5 mile mark, I pass the high school and I want to be very careful because I don’t want to be run down by some horny teenager who’s sexting while driving, so my focus is split when it wouldn’t otherwise be.

Now, this is a run that I should have broken up with my 4 minute on 1 minute off thing because it was quite a bit longer than usual, but I would like 5 miles to become the new standard workout. So I ran the whole thing.

Mile 2 is feeling good and I’m at the park I was trying to get to, the one I mentioned in my last post?

I run around the park and made it an even 3 miles before I head back. I stop to stretch a bit before I leave the park. Not because I want to but because I’m 38 and my body hates me when I don’t stretch.

I’m still feeling pretty good….

Somewhere around mile 4.12, I hit the wall. What! The Wall?! Are you kidding me? Who moved The Wall? There is no way I should be hitting the wall so early. Right? Well…. It is a new route, and I didn’t have enough respect for the slight incline of the return trip. I’m used to ending my run on a very welcome albeit slight downhill stretch.

I wanna stop but I know I won’t forgive myself if I do! So I start pumping my arms because your legs do what ever your arms do. It’s working and as Providence would have it, Christine Aguilera’s “Fighter” starts blaring on the iPod.

So I fight my way home and when I get here, the in-laws have stopped in to see the kids. Aww…. They are so awesome! I love those folks. Of course, I’m sweaty and gross, so I need to run through the shower and stretch as much as I can without taking too much time. Needless to say, it wasn’t enough.

I am *so* going to feel that in the morning!