Tempo runs aren’t my thing. I’m terrible at picking a
sustainable pace that is faster than my usual comfortable training pace. What
is this pace? I have no idea. I think this is why tempo runs aren’t my thing (On a
side note, whenever I hear tempo, I think of music. This makes me think of
band. I played the trumpet and wore a terrible outfit with a funny hat).
 |
| Not my finest fashion moment. |
But Thursday, after months of training, I finally rocked a
tempo run. I picked a faster pace, and I ran that faster pace for 45 minutes
(for a 60-minute total run). My average pace, including the warm up and cool
down, was 11:04. For me, this is downright speedy. And, I felt awesome.
After this rockin’ tempo run, I was ready for my 9-mile long
run on Sunday to be a breeze. I may have been ready for it, but there was no breeze. I felt
some kind of strange calf pain for the first half of the run. Then, my left
foot went numb. Strange.
During this time, my thoughts were:
“Why does my calf
hurt? Running sucks.”
“My foot is numb now.
Awesome. Running sucks.”
“I’m never running
another half marathon. Running sucks.”
You may notice a theme here.
But, I just kept running (which is what I’m sure you’re
supposed to do if you think you’re injured) and eventually it went away.
I stopped once to retie my shoe. I tried to put it off as
long as possible because I hate stopping. I’m always afraid I won’t start again
or I will want to keep stopping. But after retying, I restarted and didn’t stop
until I hit the 9-mile mark.
From about the 5-mile point on, my thoughts were:
“This is awesome.
Running rocks!”
“I love running, and
it loves me. Running rocks!”
“I can’t wait for my
next half marathon. Running rocks.”
Wide range of emotion, folks.
