My morning thoughts and events went a little something like this:
5 am- Alarm goes off and I lay there in the dark thinking "wait why do I do this? I'm getting up at the crack of dawn on a Sat to go run by myself at the track really hard. Can I even hit the times?"
5:05- out of bed, get dressed. Let the dogs out to see that it's raining, grey, and dark. "Oh gosh maybe I should do this workout tomorrow. No, tomorrow is my 10 mile moderate hard run so switching them with this gross weather won't really be any better. I may as well just do this today"
5:10- Eat my GU chomps, drink some water, put contacts in, put hair up.
5:15- Get water bottles, flats and everything I need ready to go. "where should I do the workout? MP track or MdN?...ugh this weather is gross"
5:20- Start driving and decide to go to MP because their track is brand new (softer) and Dunkin is close, so if I do well I can reward myself with a coffee after :)
5:35- The gates are closed at MP!! "WTF?! Now what the heck should I do? Maybe I should do this 5:41 pace 3 mile run just on the roads? No, too hard for me probably right now, especially on rolling terrain...maybe I should just go to LA Fitness and do this on the treadmill at 6 minute pace (since that's the fastest their treadmill goes)"
5:40- Decide to park across the street and start my 3 mile warm up and hope that someone opens the gates by the time I am back. During my warm up I notice the walk through gate is open though, so problem solved.
5:45-6:05- Warm up is awful. I get light headed and start seeing spots. "WTF is wrong with me?!?! I feel like I'm going to faint. I can't do this today. There must be something wrong. I hope I don't fall over here on this dirt trail and no one will ever find me!"
6:08- I decide to just go to the track. "I need to do some strides and see if I feel better. I'll take a GU gel and see if that helps my dizziness"
6:10- Get in my car and drive over to the MP parking lot, only to realize the gates are all locked around the track. I decide to just hop it (or climb, since it's about 10 feet high!)...yet 1 minute later the baseball coach comes around and I asked him to open it for me.
6:15- Flats are on and I start some strides. Still not feeling great but gradually dizziness is going away. Luckily it's not raining anymore yet it's still cooler than usual and the sun is far from coming out. The silence of standing there on the track completely alone made me realize that I need to give myself more credit than I do. I was there with no support, no coach, no teammates...just me, the track and my watch. "My legs feel like crap. This isn't going to go well"
6:25- Staring down the lane about to start running into my 12 laps of hard work. "Ok Sally you need to start this and stay positive. You might start feeling better once you get going". 10 meters into the first lap, "Sally go for it..you used to cry about not being able to work out hard because of your foot pain so stop this and appreciate the opportunity you have right now to run hard!"
6:26- I take off and try to get in a good rhythm. Mile one is 5:41. "Ok great job Sally, two more laps and you are half way there. Get through 6 laps and then focus on the next half"
6:34- Hit 6 laps right on target. "Ok keep this up, you are hitting every lap right on pace"
6:37- Hit 2 miles in 11:22. "Perfect Sally. You are feeling good. Run these next two laps controlled and then go for it the last 800"
6:42- Finish in 16:56 and feel so relieved to be done.
I changed my shoes and started my 3 mile cool down around the surrounding neighborhoods. I can't believe how the morning unfolded. I literally was at a point of thinking I should drive home due to how dizzy I felt and my very negative attitude from the moment I woke up. I'm really proud of myself for pushing through and doing what I could to get the workout done and accomplish my goal for the day. I wouldn't have been able to do the workout though if I didn't have the Vanilla Bean GU. I carry one with me on every run lately because of this dizziness thing I get almost every day. They truly are lifesavers and I appreciate their sponsorship so much!
Today is the last day of July and we are on to August! wow, where has the summer gone? It seems like just yesterday it was May and I was in Spokane racing. So far the summer has been a great one for me and my foot continues to be pretty good so I'm extremely grateful right now :) This weather makes me sooooo happy too!! It's just so nice and I love it...of course I love sunshine but it's great to have a break from the 100+ scorching sun. Grey skys, 75 degrees and breezy :) Heaven :)
Quote for today: "Anything worth having doesn't come easy"
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