Sunday, December 08, 2013

Let my imagination run away

I always let my imagination run away from and when it
comes back, it comes back with  cake! - Pinkie Pie
Last July or August, one of those times when it was wicked hot out there, I signed up for a 5k race in December.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  A chilly December race with lots of time to get ready would be easy as .... [pie, Sunday morning, whatever metaphor you would use].

Then, I promptly forgot about it until a couple of weeks ago when I got a reminder email about pick up details and things.

Damn!

I hadn't been running, I hadn't been training and it was freakin' cold outside.  What's a girl to do?  Further, the group I had signed up with were all doing this Santa zombie theme thing.

I don't do zombies.

Not only that, this is the last week of the semester and between a 1500 word article due on Monday, 2 pieces of directed writing, a positive discipline plan due on Monday and 3 lesson plans all due by Wednesday, when was I supposed to do this?

What's a girl to do but veg out in front of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic."  For 30 minutes I watched a group of ponies wander around scary ruins of a castle for different reasons but the best character is the ever chaotic, ever clueless Pinkie Pie.  At the end when the serious ponies declare they shouldn't let their imaginations run away with them like that again, Pinkie replies, "I always let my imagination run away from me and when it comes back, it comes back with cake!"

Yes, there was my answer.  It was time to have the cake my imagination seemed to be bringing back.  I got there at 9 am for number pick up.  I got my swag (a sweet pint class and long sleeved tech shirt - you can never really have too many of them this time of year) and brought my number to the group's VIP tent area for someone who could use it.  I then set my Nike+ for 5k and took off through Central Square and ran my own 5k.

I hit my three goals: I had to run more than half of it, I had to run under a 14 min mile and I had to run in under 45 minutes.  I ran about 2.5 miles, 13:55 mile and in 44 minutes.  Done, done and done.  I feel great, I was done before 10 and home in time to start cranking on things before I have to leave for the TGIO party in Copley Square.

It fits in with my c210k plan and I'm pumped for week two of things.

It's all cake... and running... and imagination.... and (most of all) good.

Monday, December 02, 2013

Street lights and memories

Having pulled the trigger on the inaugural Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon, this morning meant following the couch to 10k I was looking at and going out for 2 miles.  (What?  It's at the beginning of June so I have 7 months to train....)  So by 6:15 I had laced up, donned running tights and layered up for the 34* temp and headed out the door and was... surprised.

Since developing plantar fasciitis last year, I have been scared to run.   Sure walking through the hills in Brookline with November Project (no longer mistaken for the band) and a couple of trial runs let me know that yes, it is OK, to run but the memory still lingers.  So this morning was surprising.

We're at that time of year when it's dark out at 6 in the morning, so unless I wear a miner's light when I run, I run the sidewalks of my community by street lights and memories of where the potholes are: Cross the street here because there will be a puddle over there after yesterday's rain; the utility doors on the ground will be slick and shiny; the curb cut by the high school should be covered in a wet, muddy goo like always....  You know, the sorts of things people who run know about their routes.

I had intended to walk the bulk of today's route but then muscle memory and Irish punk took over and wound together with the sidewalk hazard thoughts to keep me moving.  From the second my feet started moving, they moved along at a jog for 3/4's of a mile.  I walked to the one mile point and two things happened.  First, as I did a quick mechanics check (and yes Nini, my right ankle was barking through the compression socks so I will have to KT tape and do strength work), a rabbit hopped along with me for a bit.  Rabbits are always a sign that I'm on the right track for some odd reason... don't ask why because it's something that started a while back and then just became that sign.  Then Flogging Molly's "Devil's Dance Floor" came on which started my feet moving and I didn't stop until I got to my traditional walk to cool down spot a quarter mile from the house.

Two miles at a 15 minute pace... wow.  There are many people who think they walk faster, and they probably do, but given a half mile of that running was walking, I'm quite happy with that test run this morning.  Tomorrow will be walking and there will probably be a run Thursday and a "long" run of 3 miles on Sunday - which coincides with a 5k I forgot I signed up for in fever pitch of frenzy with the November Project/Boston Brunch Runner folks.

Today said, "I can do this" and, at least for today,  I believe I can.