A Mote in Your Eye

I went running this morning! Like real running, on the road and everything! I was ridiculously slow, but at least I did it.

I ran south on Quito until I hit about 2 miles, then turned around and came back. It was simple route, but I know the distances so I'm not focused on how much longer; instead I can zone out. This morning the weather is gorgeous - sunny, warm, clear, and a breath of wind. I made the mistake of running during rush hour traffic, and there were a couple of distracted drivers that made me nervous enough to hop into the bushes and wait for them to pass. I think getting hit in a crosswalk has made me extra aware when dealing with traffic, which I suppose is a good thing.

For the first ~1.8 miles I felt pretty good, my legs felt strong, my lungs weren't burning, and I didn't feel "floppy" as I was running. I thought maybe I would try to go my 6-mile loop, allowing for lots of walking, but when I hit the 2 mile mark I had to turn around. I'd already been out about 30 minutes, and a 6-mile loop would put me at 1.5 hours. I didn't have water and was starting to get hungry. I also don't want to push myself too hard and get injured.

It's hard for me to not be able to go as far as I want to, and I have to keep telling myself that I am still in the early stages of training, that I'm not expected to be able to run the whole 6 miles yet, but it's still frustrating to feel that urge to walk and give in to it. I have to remind myself that my victory is to just be outside running, and not focus on my pace.

Of course, the GPS on my wrist makes not focusing on my pace hard! I might have to take pace and speed off the screen and just display time and heart rate.

Anyway, after I turned around to head back, I ran into a lovely breeze that stirred up a cloud of pollen, and something sharp landed in my right eye. It was excruciatingly painful, and I immediately stopped and doubled over, hand cupping my eye, trying not to move the eyeball. It took me a good minute or so to get whatever it was out, and even then my eye ached a bit. It feels better now, but I'm trying not to use that as a "see, I told you I shouldn't be running" moment. (Any excuse to not run...)

I walked a bit on the way back, mostly when I saw a sketchy-looking guy walking my direction stop and crouch down - I couldn't tell if he was tying his shoes or something, and I paused to consider crossing the street, but he beat me to it. The last leg of the journey I ran, and when I arrived back at the house I had to sit in the garage for a few minutes to recover. My running is really bad right now, and I am glad I didn't try to go the full 6 miles today. I need to build up some endurance first.

I loaded my GPS workout onto my computer and these are the somewhat pathetic stats:

Total Distance: 3.99 miles
Total Time: 54:19.66
Average Pace: 13:30 minutes per mile
Average Speed: 4.4 mph

So slow. It's hard to not get discouraged. Also, my heart rate is through the roof when I'm running. Even walking to warm up at the beginning of my run my HR gets up into the 120's-130's, and the actual running puts me upwards of 170. I don't know enough about HR training to know if that's bad or if it even matters, but it seems awfully high.

My recovery snack was a banana and a cup of milk, and that healed me - I feel full even an hour later, and I read somewhere that milk is one of the best recovery drinks out there because it's got sugars and protein. So far I have to agree.

Good day so far. First real distance run on the road is under my belt!