February 15th, 2012 – 4.01 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.”

This was a great run, which is tremendous, considering it was on the treadmill. Generally, I don’t enjoy the treadmill workout.

But I had to get this run in… for two reasons: (1) Because it was on the schedule and (2) Because Coach Dion says March is right around the corner so I have to up the training. Damn it, Coach!

Of course, he’s right. If I don’t want to forgo my tapering, I really need to pick it up. Tapering is more important than I tend to give it credit for.

Having a treadmill at home was supposed to be my saving grace, but it turns out that it means I get interrupted quite a lot. My family figure since I’m just in the garage, I’m still at home and available to fetch, wipe, referee and counsel. This gets very frustrating.

Even after staying at the office very late to get to the bottom of some figures that just refused to balance, I was determined to get a 3 mile run in with sprint intervals. I figured this workout was no match for me. I wasn't bested by corporate financials and I wouldn't be bested by a little 3-mile sprint!

However!!! The minute I got home, the boy was beside himself. He had to make a run to Target and everyone in the house was starving. I’m still not clear on why Chris couldn’t take care of this, as he had been home for at least an hour and was watching TV. But I digress. Clearly, these are tasks that require my singular abilities.

So I made a deal with Jordan. I told him to finish his homework while I got in a one-mile sprint. Then we could go and I would get something on the table.

After the trip to Target and a failed attempt to find something healthy on the menu at Burger King, Jordan was satisfied and everyone was fed and watered. After dinner, I was back on the treadmill.

I had completely cooled down, of course, so I still had another 3 miles to push through. By this time, everyone in the house seemed to understand that I was a ticking time-bomb about to blow. If I didn’t get this run in, I would be EXTREMELY grumpy. It’s never good when mom is trippin’, so everybody backed off long enough for me to get this run in.

What made this run great was a steady pace, with sprints at the .75 mark to cap off the miles. At the beginning of each mile I would start at 4 mph, until I hit the .50 mark, then it was 5 mph. After I hit the .75 mark, I would push it to 6 mph to finish out the mile. All of this at a 6% incline while watching old episodes of Community. I love that show.

After I hit the 4 mile mark, I turned on “The Greatest Love of All” by Whitney Houston (God rest her soul) and cooled down with a .25 walk.

Juggling work, home, family and fitness is no joke but getting it all done feels good.

After all was ran and done, I stretched, iced, showered, shampooed, poured myself a snifter of chocolate-flavored Port and watched John Stewart with Chris.

Good stuff.