What If It’s Not…

Yesterday was National Running Day and I gave you info on all kinds of great discounts and giveaways that I hope you took advantage of. I also shared my “Why I Run” reasons.

Did you see it?  Did you read it?  Did any of it resonate?

Last night, I decided I didn’t want to celebrate alone so I made arrangements to meet up with Fleet Feet STL to do some track work.  I’m a little leery of the track because it humiliates me.  Then when you add others, you add an extra layer of humility.  I went anyway and I’m so glad I did.

I forgot how much there is to learn in those moments of humility.  The workout for the night was 2 x 1200, 2 x 800 and 2 x 400.  Doesn’t look like much but when it was over, I was DONE.

Before the first 1200, I figured out what I THOUGHT my pace should be and lined up in the back of the pack.  (Something you might not know: I can be pretty shy in groups of people I don’t know.  Not the outgoing Type A you would assume.).  The clock started and I took off.  I have invested in a Forerunner 620, which I love, I had a clear picture of what my pace truly was.  I felt strong the first 1200 and actually kept a speed much better than what I thought I would do.  I felt confident and still didn’t finish in the top of the pack.

The second 1200 was tougher.  I found my pace, then picked it up a little. First lap was good, second lap was decent, third lap burned.

By the time we got to the 800’s I was struggling to figure out what pace to try to keep.  I picked an aggressive one and took off.  About 200 in, I looked at my watch and heard myself say..

This is too fast

thinking I wouldn’t be able to maintain it and immediately felt my legs slow.  Then I shook it off and thought..

What if it’s not to slow?  What if I can maintain this?

And found the pace again and kept it.  The last 100 were beyond painful and I could hear my internal voices arguing…one was saying

Go ahead, slow down

the other was saying…

“Suck it up buttercup, you got this!

By the time I had decided to follow the buttercup theory I had finished.  Gasping for air, I was beyond excited to see a 6:38 pace.

This…this is why I love running.  In the course of a lap, I had felt like my butt was kicked, I was down, I was ready to quit but in that same lap, I heard the voices, I found the depth and found a new level that I didn’t know existed.  The door is open, I’m dying to see what’s behind it and so I will visit the track again, I will keep running and I will keep loving EVERY STEP.

Did you run yesterday?  What did you do?  Do you have workouts like this?