Wow, to think I only have one more run and I will have completed 9 weeks of Couch to 5k! Thinking back, I wasnt sure I could do this... I thought I would likely fail and here I am at the end!!!! My mind barely comprehends that and my emotions are threatening to tear up.
I'll echo what Mr. F said -- it was a hard run today. Running in the afternoons leaves the full stresses of the day weighing upon me. I ended up picking up one son from practice, heading to the grocery store for milk and making a birthday cake for this evenings celebration all before our workout.
So the first mile was hard and I really had to push through it. I borrowed my sons watch today, so I had that to focus on a bit. I did the first mile in 11:15. So I based my next segment on halving my mile time. I orginally was going to run for 5.5 more minutes and then turn around. I quickly figured that would make the run way too long, so I cut it to 4.5 minutes. I made it further along that stretch of trail than I did on monday! I wasnt sure if I could do the return as fast. But I did do the next part in about the same 4.5, maybe almost five. Its hard to focus on the exact seconds sometimes.
I was shooting for 12 minute mile pace on the return. And I came in 20 seconds under that -- woohoo! So I did the whole run in about 32:41. I think I was somewhere between 2.75 miles and 3 miles. Its really hard to estimate on the trail. I was very pleased.
The last 7/10 of a mile was hard but not so bad today. I really concentrated on knocking down the wall. My strategy today was to focus on the idea that God has given me the strength to knock down the cement wall. So I would pick a tree, or sign or marker point and as I saw it coming closer and closer, I envisioned the cement block sliding further and further out. And as I passed it, I knocked it out with the sledgehammer. I randomly picked a number, 11, and then counted down my blocks from there. It really helped me to have something else to focus on. At this point,Im not running with music or anything. So having the mental calthenics of knocking out a wall was good!
I heard Mr. F call out once again and I picked up the pace at the end. Overall a good run!
Keep on running,
Mrs. F
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