From the Treadmill, a Glimpse Back

The roller coaster ride of running has continued for me lately, but I’ve been working to keep my eye on my immediate goal of the St. Louis Rock N’ Roll Half Marathon in October.  October is getting closer and closer every day!

Last weekend, I had a terrible run where I just didn’t have it in me.  In retrospect, I believe it was the culmination of negative thoughts, humidity, and hills that did me in.  Four miles in, I was spent.  Shortly after that, the heavens intervened with a fantastic thunderstorm that forced me to shelter.  I called the wife to pick me up and save me.  Luckily she was off work; she’s a school teacher and was enjoying her last Friday off of the summer.

I was irritated by the effort throughout the weekend and Sunday I thought, “Hey, I’m feeling pretty good right now.”  I decided to give my long run another go.  This time I concentrated on a slower, steady pace with the goal being to eat up miles; not set land speed records.  It went well and I made it through 12 with energy to spare. 

It has been a decent week this week as the weather has cooled.  This morning, though, the rains came again with lightning and thunder.  I decided I’d hit the home treadmill; something I haven’t done for a while.  I’ve either run outside or run at the gym’s treadmill.  My treadmill is not a terrible one, but also not a great one.  It is a middle of the road machine but gets the job done.  I figured it’d be a good way to put on some miles, but an unremarkable run.

As I was chugging along on the hamster wheel, I looked down at the treadmill and noticed the piece of paper on it.  What I found was a reminder of how far I’ve come since February.

C25k note; sorry for the poor quality cell phone shot :-)

The paper outlined a Couch to 5k run; one of the parts where the times can be confusing (particularly when you’re tired).  Today I was running a 5k on the treadmill and thinking of it as a shorter, easier run.  Back then, such a thing would have been preposterous.  It made me feel good about how far along I’ve made it, and thankful to the me of old for starting down this path.  Along the run I picked up my pace, and registered the first sub-30 minute 5k I’ve ever run.  It was on a treadmill, so an easier environment than an outdoor run, but I still felt good about it afterward.

Ready to tear into the weekend now and squeeze in a long run on Sunday!

Enjoy your progress!

Travis