Trying to Find Motivation (2010 Run 8)

Date: 2/17/10
Time of Day: 9:30 PM
Location: Marriott Route

Conditions: 35 degrees F, breezy, (29 degree wind chill)
Music: Under the Dome by Stephen King

Clothing: Jacket, short sleeved wicking shirt, compression shorts, shorts

Shoes: Nike Air Pegasus 26+

 

Lately, I've been having trouble finding the motivation to get out and run. I don't know why.

 

Every excuse in the book that I can find, I use it.

 

"Oh, it's too late, I'll run in the morning."

 

"Oh, it's too early, I'll run after work."

 

"Oh, I'm so tired from work, I'll run later."

 

"Oh, I haven't eaten yet, I can't run on an empty stomach."

 

"Oh, I'm so full, if I run now I'll pop."

 

"It's too cold/snowy/rainy for running."

 

I keep having these 10-11-12 day gaps in my running. What this means is that as of yesterday morning, I had only run 7 days this year. My goal is 210. To put it in the nicest terms possible, I'm behind my goal. To be more blunt, I need to get off my fat, lazy butt.

 

Somehow last night, I was able to convince myself to head out the door.

 

The Marriott Route was just as I had left it (although at one point, I did jump when I saw the shadow of a sprinkler flag because I thought it was an animal).

 

As I have in the past, I started out with a warmup run. I ran from my starting point for 8:30 according to my watch. Usually I run around 5, but I was determined to push a little harder and a little longer due to my inactivity.

 

After a four minute walk, I kicked into gear again, ran to the halfway point, turned and ran all the way down the hill and within probably a tenth of a mile before my starting point. Time of second run - 16:00. I was contemplating doing another out-and-back at this point, so I was walking back to the starting mark.

 

Unfortunately, when I turned, I realized that I really was tired (which I felt was an acceptable excuse after running for 24 minutes). So I walked back to the point that I had stopped running, turned and ran back to the start. This only took about 2 minutes, but it allowed me to finish running.

 

It wasn't my best run and it wasn't my worst run. It was just a run. And that was the whole point. I needed to run.

 

Now I need to run again.

 

8 down. 202 to go.

Fangtastic 5k (2010 Run 7)

Date: 2/6/10
Time of Day: 10:00 AM
Location: Downtown Nashville

Conditions: 32 degrees F, windy, light snow (20 degree wind chill)
Music: Under the Dome by Stephen King

Clothing: Jacket, short sleeved wicking shirt, compression shorts, shorts

Shoes: Nike Air Pegasus 26+

 

Just when you thought I was getting back on track, the Snowpocalypse hit Nashville.

 

Two days after my long run, a snowstorm came and dropped about 3 inches of snow on the ground...and then another half an inch or so of ice. If you're not from the South, you probably are thinking...so what? Well...it rarely snows here, so we're not really prepared for it. The roads are slippery because they are ice, we don't have snow tires or chains or anything of that nature. As it was virtually impossible to walk outside without sliding all over the place, I spent about 5 days in a row snowbound.

 

Thus, I went into the Fangtastic 5k woefully untrained.

 

And woefully unprepared. It was around 35 degrees when I left the house. I didn't check the weather because the local weather channel tends to run Degrassi: The Next Generation on Saturday mornings. As much as I care about Paige Michalchuk's angsty teenage years, I really just want to know if I need to put on long pants or not. I risked it and put on shorts, figuring that if it was 35 now, by about 10:30, it would be in the 40s...and with running, I would be warm.

 

Instead it cooled down. When I wasn't running, I was cold.

 

The race started next to the Sommet Center (Formerly the Nashville Arena-Gaylord Entertainment Center-Nashville Arena) tower. The gun went off and it took me over 3 minutes to get to the start line. Once I got there, Gnash, the Preds mascot, was cheering everyone on and pointing them in the direction of the first turn.

 

The race started with a short run down Broadway. I started running from the get go. From Broadway, we turned left onto First Avenue where we ran up the hill. I kept running until the course forked off onto Gay Street to go under the bridge. If you're not from Nashville, just pretend you are following along. Essentially, I ran until there was an uphill.

 

I walked the uphill until I reached the center of the "peak" and ran the downhill around as far as I could for about 6-7 minutes. The course snaked around some other streets and past the Municipal Auditorium. At this point, we had another big downhill, so I ran it to the bottom for another 5 minutes or so.

 

Once we reached the bottom, we were at the bottom of Capitol Hill...and now we had to go up it. The road next to the Capitol was insanely steep and I don't know that I would have run it if I could...it looked like it would be hell on my ankles. So, I walked it. Walk the uphills, run the downhills. That was my strategy as soon as I figured out that the course was uphill both ways...in the snow (because it was very much snowing).

 

When I hit the top of the hill, we were next to the Downtown Library...and some homeless men started trying to hit up runners for money. Not to be rude, but my shorts didn't even have pockets...I don't know where they expected the money to magically appear from. I politely declined and was promptly yelled at. Since the course was about to meander on the downhill and since I was now scared for my life...I started running again.

 

This time, I ran all the way down the hill, took the right on Second Avenue and ran until second crossed Broadway. I walked from Second Avenue until the course took a right onto Demonbreun. I continued walking until it took a right back towards the finish line next to the Sommet and ran the remainder.

 

It was a tough, hilly course. But I definitely did better than my usual. It was a new PR - 47:08 (looking forward to the day I laugh at that). My goal was to hopefully beat 50 minutes. I beat it by almost 3 minutes...which makes me optimistic that 45 minutes is just around the corner.

 

7 down. 203 to go!