Back to Running

I've gotten back on the running bandwagon. Big thanks to Samo and the Bananachase 5k for that.

I ran for 40 minutes (3.5 miles) on Saturday, leaving M sleeping in bed because he had left his running shoes at home. It was a slow run (I wasn't running for speed), but it was extra slow thanks to the 18+ degree grade San Francisco hills. I felt really great after that run, and thought about lengthening it but I had things to do and people to see.

Monday I ran 2 miles at 10 minutes per mile on the treadmill before my weights workout, and that also felt good.

Tuesday I ran 2.25 miles on the treadmill, but it felt awful. I was nauseous at the half mile mark, and it never really got better. I took a walking break in the middle, then started up jogging again really slowly. It was a bear to get through. :/

Today I'm going to spin or elliptical instead, so as to ease back into this running thing. Samo is an invaluable source of information for me, and endlessly encouraging. I remember when we started workout out together I was so worried that she'd be bored or dissatisfied because I'm not nearly as fit as she is, but it hasn't been that way at all.

Hurray for workout partners and regular exercise!

Bananas!

This morning I ran in the Banana Chase 5k race. It was a beautiful sunny San Francisco day, just a tad warmer than ideal for running. The premise of the race is to pass as many of the 20 or so runners in banana costumes as you can. I imagine that the main runner pack was more full of bananas to chase down and race against, but I saw very few in the middling slow pack. I ended up passing just four all together.

I was aiming for a 9 minute mile pace (28 minute finish time), but I reaped the rewards of having done almost no training for the last few months and finished in 30:24 minutes instead. That's a 9:48 minute mile pace on average, but the breakdown was 9:22/10:00/11:02(1.1 miles). I was so sad when my second mile was so much slower than my first, but I fulfilled my primary goal of never walking.

Okay, well, I walked. I walked a few steps, but I didn't walk walk, you know? Just a few steps, I swear, then right back to jogging. I purposefully slowed down several times so that I wouldn't have to stop and walk again, and I kept tabs on how my muscles and lungs and legs felt, so I knew I could keep going. The mental game is tough. Samo has told me that races hurt, and I kept that in mind as I struggled through the last mile. I need to get more used to that pain and discomfort. I also have to work on my lung and heart capacities. That means a running a much higher number of miles per week.

M ran the race too, and he did exactly what I thought he would. I called 25 minutes as his finish time, and he finished in 25:10. I said he'd run the first mile too fast, and he says he ran it so much too fast that he had to walk a whole block in the last mile and was unable to sprint the end of the race. We've vowed to run together more often, so that I can take as much advantage of his natural speed to speed me up as I can. Every Sunday we'll go for a run.

And Samo ran the race too. She finished in just over 20 minutes, and found me right after I finished. She and I were buzzing on the adrenaline, but M was just in pain. We stayed to watch the awards, and one of her teammates won the race outright, which was pretty exciting.

Update: M finished 21st out of 29 in his age group (367th overall), and I finished 32nd out of 61 in my age group (566th overall).

Update 2: Pictures!