Monday, July 6, 2009

My first five. Please kill me.

Over the weekend I experienced my first five mile run, which proved to be one of the hardest things I have ever done to myself.

I have never really done anything that has made every part of my body scream, "I EFFING HATE YOU RIGHT NOW! WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS TO ME?!" I really didn't expect this run to be so hard. And had things gone the way I planned, I don't think it wouldn't have been so bad. But when do things really go to plan?

The Plan: Friday night preparations; map out precise 5 miles route, get running gear together including special running hydration belt and water bottle. Wake up between 5:45 and 6 Saturday morning. And because I was so proactive and prepared the night before, effortlessly begin the big five mile run ... the first-ever five mile run of my life.

The Reality: Didn't leave for friend's house until 9pm. Before leaving, did not prepare map of route or running gear. Upon getting to my friend's house, inebriation commenced. Did not leave until 1am (although I did nap for the last hour of the night and slept in the car while Mat drove us home). Went straight to bed. Alarm went off at 5:45. I rolled over. This wasn't happening. The alarm went off at 6. I reset the alarm for 7. Woke up at 7, immediately went for the Advil. Pulled out my netbook and planned my route. However, I couldn't quickly or easily map out an exact 5 miles, so I opted for the 5.4 miles route - as if I hadn't already done enough harm to my body. Started getting my gear together. Couldn't find my special water bottle. Opted for two regular water bottles, neither of which actually fit into my hydration belt, yet I still wore my hydration belt (I didn't figure out that my substitute water bottles didn't fit until I had rounded my first corner and one flew out ...). Got on the road at 7:30am. 

My run didn't start horribly. In fact, my route led me down a few new neighborhood streets and gave me a few new things to look at. But about 40 minutes into my run (have I mentioned that I am a very slow runner), everything kind of turned. The sun, which was in front of me when I started my run, was now directly above me. No matter where I turned, it was beating down on me and on the hot black pavementI was running on. I was almost out of water and almost out of my Emergen-C (my choice for an electrolyte boost). I had a cramp under my butt and my legs were seriously about to give up.

But there, on the side of the road, when my body was completely ready to call it quits, inspiration struck. Pandora knew exactly what my body was going through and just like that, Britney Spear's "Give Me More" started playing. It was as if the heavens were reaching down, giving me a little more energy to push - something I never could have planned. So I gave it more and made it back home. Only for Britney my friends ... only for Britney. 

For those who need a little push ... Britney says it best:



(Apparently I am not very YouTube savvy. I could not, for the life of me, find the original video with the ability to embed it. So, sorry for the Britney homage.)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Great post. It made me feel like I was there. Good job