Long run Done. oomph.
Well it got done.
I was on my way out the door to meet my much faster pal for this run when she texted me to tell me that she was not coming. I still had to go of course, so no big deal. In fact, I was a little relieved. She really is a lot faster, and I wasn’t sure how that was going to work out.
I figured it would surely lighten up around 6, as it was 5:45 I thought no big deal…Get out there. There were some cars already at the trail head. They all looked like runner/cycler cars so I was not that worried.
When I started though, I really noted how dark it was. I could not see at all. It made me feel a little nervous, and a little fearful that something may be right around the corner.
Funny thing, the sun never seemed to rise, but somewhere around mile 4 it was finally light enough fro me to see my Garmin. I was thrown off a bit due to this. At mile 1.4 or so, I heard a HUGE rustling in the bushes. Growing up in the country, I have heard this before. I believe it was a Deer of sorts, but…I’m not so sure. I never saw it. I started to really feel uncomfortable. Luckily at that point another runner going the opposite direction passed by and said Hi! I started to feel a little bit more comfortable.
Mile 3 was much better than mile two…and then mile 4 was also alright. Mile 5 for some odd reason was horrific. It is almost all DOWNHILL.
I probably looked a bit like this:
I could not get my legs moving at any sort of speed.
Eventually I started to do the Galloway thing 2-3 mins running 30 sec to a full minute of walking. Not fun.
I’m a bit concerned about my speed, or lack there of. Its related to many things: Heat, my 8 lb weight gain.. yeah..not pretty, and maybe the general lack of fitness…though I have been doing some fairly steady workouts…
Well, onward to next week. I’ll post up my plan for next week in a few hours.
- Posted in: Long run ♦ running
- Tagged: bad pace, fear, heavy legs, lead legs, long run, running in the dark, slow running
We call the noise in the bushes “the Chupacabra”, a mythical creature that eats livestock. It would eat me too, but I try to run past it at a good clip so as to avoid become a victim. 😉
Oooh I need to go google the Chupacabra! that must have been it. I do think since it was rustling around in the wildlife preserve, well… I hope it was a loud deer, not an alligator.