Warm Weather and Even Warmer Gatorade: 5K #2,

I am not a morning person. I am not even a mid-morning person. Hardly an afternoon person, actually. I am not really a running person, either (yet). Especially outside, because the outside is not air conditioned and there are no electric fans. When I'm running outside, I often wonder why I'm doing it. Because it really sucks.

That being said, I got up at 6 o'clock in the morning on a Saturday to go and run 3+ miles in the not air-conditioned outside. I was hoping that by the time we got running at 7 the sun would still be on the other side of the horizon, but it turns out the sun rises sometime before 7. I don't know much about sunrise or what time it occurs because it's something that happens while I'm still drooling on my Ramones pillow.

For this race, I didn't try to pump myself up like last time. I didn't even touch my playlist until minutes before we started running. I didn't take it easy on the day before, either. Or at least I didn't mean to. My intentions were to go to the SERF on Friday to pick up our packets and run 3ish miles. What actually happened was this: I picked up the packets after some confusion about which line I was supposed to be in which caused me to look like a dimwit, browsed the shelves full of running apparel at the expo which I didn't even realize would be there (clothing excites me, even if it's of the running variety), and ran exactly half the distance I planned on because I had used up too much of my time looking at the clothes I neither needed nor could afford. Dimwit indeed.

None of that is really important, though. What's important is the race, and you can probably tell by now that I'm beating around the bush. I don't even really feel like writing about it. I didn't make my goal. There, I said it. My goal was to run the entire race and improve by 2 minutes. Actually, that goal was set for me by one of my mom's friends, Wayne. It sounded okay to me. Unfortunately, I didn't make it. And before the race, I even knew I couldn't make it. That's the sad part. I didn't even believe I could do it. Maybe that's part of the reason I didn't.

Besides all of that, the race went well. We met Beth there (my first time meeting her), Wayne's girlfriend, and she was running her very first 5K. I was happy to know that I'd be running with someone who was at my level of instead of just my mom, who I knew would eventually jet ahead of me.

I was still trying to wake up when we started running, and I hadn't even gotten my iPhone ready with my playlist. I was trying to run and get my music going at the same time and it made for a very clumsy, slow start since my phone was already in the nifty little armband/iPhone holder. I'm sure there's a better name for that but I don't feel like looking it up. I did catch up with my mom and Beth after that, though, and we all stayed together well into the 2nd mile. Probably about halfway through, in a sad fit of "I'm too tired to keep going", I just stopped and walked. But I was still happy that I had made it as far as I did, because I didn't even last to the 1 mile mark last time. I started and stopped a few times after that, and Beth stuck by my side the whole time. I guess she needed to rest her legs a little bit, too. I sprinted at the end because, you know, I am a real runner now. My chip time was 38:25, 8 seconds faster than the Full Moon 5K. Considering 7am was the start time and we stopped to take a silly picture -------->
and I had iPhone problems at the beginning, I'd say I was a little faster than my time suggests. Not 2 minutes faster, but still. More than 8 seconds faster. I'm still pleased with myself.

Something that was nice about this race was that they had 2 places where they were handing out cups of water and Gatorade. I was feeling drained, so I went right for the Gatorade. It was extremely warm, though. I was expecting room temperature or maybe even a little chilled, but it was like someone stuck it in a microwave or something. It was better than nothing. Now I just need to learn how to drink it while I'm running without spilling it all over my shirt (another sign of a "real" runner).

Now that the race I've been training for since I began this blog is finished, I feel like I need some goals if I'm going to keep going with running.

I first started writing this blog a couple days ago, and I set this goal:

My first goal is a 10 minute mile. 6mph isn't very comfortable for me, but I'm sure I can do it for 10 minutes. I don't know if it would be easy enough for me to do right now or if it's going to be really difficult, but I want to try and do it since I never have before. Who knows? Maybe I can cross this off my list tomorrow. I'd definitely like to get this one done before school begins on Sept. 2.

I can mark this one off my list because I did it this morning. It was really tough and I puked in my mouth afterwards (sorry, I know that's gross), but I still finished it. So I'm changing it to 1.6mi in 16 minutes. I could barely finish the mile, so 1.6 really is something I'll need to work for. Since my 5K time is around 38 minutes, this would be a significant improvement on my time. I want to make this goal by Sept. 2nd, preferably with my breakfast staying put.

I know this goal may seem small, but that's what I'm going for. Long-term goals are difficult for me to meet because I lose track of what they are and overestimate the time I have to do them. Small goals will eventually pave the way to my much bigger (and right now, seemingly unattainable) goals, like eventually running a 10K or maybe even a Half Marathon. I'm not going to bother putting a date on those, though, because I don't know how much time I'll need to get there. Maybe I can do it next summer. Maybe I can do it the summer after that. Whatever. Baby steps until then.

You Know You're a Runner When...

My last run was on Sunday and I did a (nearly) solid 3 miles. I think it was my best run yet, although I didn't keep track of my time. There was a quarter mile of walking in there towards the end (might have actually been an eighth of a mile, I'm not sure), but it was my mom who suggested we walk. It was probably because I was having a hard time breathing and I sounded like a dying horse, not because she actually needed to walk, but still. I didn't walk because I felt like I needed to. That's an improvement for sure.

Near the end of our run, my mom suddenly jetted ahead of me. I was confused because she hadn't said anything to me about sprinting at the end. I did my version of sprinting, which is significantly slower than her version of sprinting, in case we were being chased or something. We weren't. She told me she read that sprinting at the end of a run is a sign of being a real runner. That's news to me. I decided to do my own research and see what else would qualify me as a real runner. That is the goal, of course.

These are from various sites. I just picked a few of them.

You know you're a runner when...

You have more running clothes than regular clothes in your laundry pile.

Nope, my laundry pile doesn't fit this description. However, my laundry pile never accumulates into the pile it used to. I'm in my workout clothes every single day and it only takes a week to get through all of them (and, as a grungy college kid, I actually wear them all at least twice). I now do laundry every week.

You've lost a toenail and you tell people "it's not that bad."

I did lose a toenail. Most of it, anyway. And it was that bad. I was a big baby about it.

You have a drawer full of medals and other race souvenirs that you're not sure what to do with.

Riiiiight.

You go into Starbucks more often to use the bathroom than to actually buy coffee.

Check. Although, that was true before I tried this running thing.

You're not embarrassed to wear spandex.

I'm not! I'm really not! This is a new development.

You're always hungry.

Good to know I'm not the only one.

At least one of your web site usernames or email addresses has the word "run" or "runner" in it.

Well, I have an entire blog about my training. That counts for something I'm sure.

You know where your illiotibial band is located.

I do now. Thank you Wikipedia.

Your holiday wish list can be fulfilled at any running or sporting goods store.

That might be true this year! :)

You get excited when the new Runner's World comes in the mail.

I'm always excited to flip through it at Copps, and when I'm lucky I'll find an old tattered issue in the pile of donated magazines at work and I'll be able to take my time reading it. So, what the hell, I decided to subscribe right now. For $26, I just got a 1-year subscription for Runner's World AND a year of Bicycling magazine. Gotta love Amazon. It'll be nice to have them this winter when I'm feeling stressed about school and miserable because of the cold. It'll be an extra bit of motivation coming in the mail each month. I can't wait!

Your only recent photos of you alone are race photos.

Yep! True.

Whether a 5K runner or a marathon runner, you understand "the runner's high".

Yes I do! After a run, I feel like I can lift a car! I feel wonderful. Vibrant. Ready for another run. Kind of.

A nice walk doesn't feel much like exercise.

I used to think walking counted as exercise. And by walking, I mean sauntering at my own, slow-pokey pace. I thought running was too hard and way, way out of my reach being the chubby lady that I am. I was so wrong. It's only exercise if I can't comfortably carry a conversation while I'm doing it and there's sweat coming out of every single little pore.

On the weekends you sleep in until 6:00.

WHAT?! What is this correlation between running and waking up early? I don't understand exercise in the morning. If it weren't for my upcoming 5K that begins at 7am, I would claim that I will never ever take a morning run. I'm just not coordinated enough. That being said, I'm pretty nervous for this run.

Your non-running friends consider every race you run a "marathon".

I haven't talked much with my friends about running, but I was one of those people who didn't know the difference between a 5K and a marathon. I couldn't have cared less. Now I know all about it. Or at least I think I do.

You sprint at the end of a race.

I do now!