How Goes It
I originally planned on completing this on Saturday while on a treadmill at the hotel I was staying – and did pump out 30 min (plus 10 min of extra running), but truth be told, I HATED it and didn’t feel challenged in the specific way I love/used to when running outside. If anything, I felt like a hamster in a wheel but with a TV in front of me. I am now officially anti-treadmill.
Thanks to an early flight on Sunday, I had plenty of time to run in the afternoon, even though I was too exhausted to do it and was finding every distraction in the world to put it off. Eventually I gave myself a stern talking to and pushed my butt outside. (Main motivator: burn off all the cookies I splurged on all weekend)
Because I was so tired, I didn’t think I was running that fast, but to my (GREAT) surprise, I actually ran the first 30 min under 9 min/mile! I have no idea how that happened, really. In fact, I thought it was just my mind hazing about when I’d pass certain markers before certain times. Could it be that I’ve grown comfortable with my new pace?
The faster pace, however, did end catch up with me. In my first 10 minute interval following the 30, my legs felt like lead. I was so incredibly tired and was 100% sure that I would NOT be able to complete the next 12 minute interval. With 3 minutes left in the interval, my knees started hurting. I was relieved when the interval was over.
Usually, the 3 minute break too short for me to adequately recover, but on this day, my knees felt 100% and my legs were somewhat renewed. I pushed for the 12 minutes and – what do you know! – I beat last Thursday’s 12 min interval.
Overall, this run was more mentally challenging than physically. I definitely felt the trash I ate all weekend (went nuts with my cookie addiction!), but it could be the mental power that enabled me to push through and finish.
Thoughts While Running
Cookies, cake, pie! Cookies, cake, pie! Does anybody else think of food when they run?
It’s hard to believe I once did horribly running 90 seconds at a time!
Stats
Run Intervals:
Set 1: 30:07 – 3.41 miles @ 8:50 min/mi
Set 2: 10:00 – 1.07 miles @ 9:21 min/mi
Set 3: 12:00 – 1.30 miles @ 9:14 min/mi
Total: 52:07 min and 5.78 miles
Conditions
62° F, Sunny
One-Way Ticket to RAWR-ness 
On my 20 mile pre-marathon run, all I could think about was cupcakes but when I was finally done, I didn’t want one anymore. It was crazy!