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.”
This was a great run. Let me just start out by saying that I love my neighborhood. It’s not the best neighborhood in town, of course, but it’s an All – American, middle-class, Toyota & Honda driving neighborhood full of single-family homes with 2.9 kids and a dog. It’s a peaceful, older neighborhood, with well established trees, where the kids play in the street and neighbors wave at you when you drive by. I love it.
One of the things I love most about it is that it is less than 2 miles from even nicer neighborhoods. Neighborhoods where there are expansive green belts for the dogs and their pooper-scooping owners. These neighborhoods seem to have been planned and organized with open-air exercise in mind. The sidewalks are wide and shaded with beautiful, blooming trees. They even make hill work pleasant.
At about the 2 mile mark, I turned a corner and started running into such a neighborhood. I wasn’t going for speed this time because I knew that I was facing some pretty steep hills. But I wanted to run some speed intervals when I hit the hill. I’d forgotten to strap my watch on, so I couldn’t do the 30-second sprints I intended to do but this wonderful neighborhood is peppered with these NO PARKING AT ANY TIME signs, so I was able to sprint between signs. This was effective, and it could be argued, even better than the stopwatch.
When I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, the sidewalk split into horse trails so I was able to get some relief for my aching ATs. At the halfway mark, I turned around and started running down the hill. Downhill running is something I need to keep working on. I need to keep my form tight so I don’t get sloppy and wear out my knees.
At the 5 mile mark, I had to stop and stretch. Sciatic pain was killing me. You can’t really do anything about sciatic pain but stretch. Pain relief meds don’t even touch it. I started running again and the pain subsided.
I was a mile from home when fatigue set in. I wouldn’t say I hit the wall, it wasn’t *that* bad. But in my haste to get out of the house, I only ate about a handful of pinole, half a scoop of chia seeds and about 8 oz of water and I didn’t pack any water. I don’t usually pack water for anything less than 5 miles, but 7 miles is a lot for me without water. The hunger and dehydration were making the last mile pretty tough for me.
So I switched my playlist because the only thing that was going to get me through was a double dose of Jesus!!! So I pumped up the gospel music, changed my mantra to “Keep Fighting” and ran it home.
Mile 7 Soundtrack
“Jesus Never Fails”
L.A. Mass Choir
“Keep the Candle Burning”
Point of Grace
“The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power”
Clay Crosse
Great run!
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