Speedy McSpeederson

Workout:

2 miles – 19:40

Potential dance class later (?)

I was more than a little sluggish this morning after a weekend of too much food and too much wine and too much sun. I realized that I had never turned my Garmin off after Saturday’s “long” run and it was out of battery. Crap. I knew that if I waited for it to charge I’d never make it out of the house. So, off to the gym I went.

I used to love doing my runs on the treadmill. I’m mildly [read: exceptionally] anal about distance and pace and knowing exactly how fast and how far I’m going. For a long time, the treadmill was the only way to ensure that my numbers were accurate. Sure, I had a digital watch with a timer to determine my overall time and Google maps to get my distance, but I knew it wasn’t 100% accurate. Then, I met my friend Henry. My sister gave me Henry, my Garmin, for Christmas this year and let me tell you, I am obsessed. I love tracking my pace and distance in real time, seeing the various different graphs when I sync him to my computer and really just everything about him. I’ve run almost all of my runs since I got him outside and it’s been pretty awesome. My knees aren’t hurting as much (I think this probably has to do with the way I change my form on the treadmill) and I feel like I’m becoming a much stronger runner.

Which leads me to this morning’s run. I thought I’d love being back on the treadmill again. Thursday night I ran on the treadmill and it felt great to just run and not think – not look for cars or stop lights or yappy dogs. Today was nothing like that. I knew that the gym in the morning was going to be more crowded than I wanted it to be. I knew I was going to be annoyed by the old ladies who walk on the treadmills and talk on their cell phones while I wait (not so) patiently for one to open up. Maybe it was this mentality that was the problem. Maybe it was that I spent an awesome weekend outside in gorgeous southern California weather and I didn’t want to be inside. Either way, I was in trouble. I hopped on the treadmill after a 10 minute wait and immediately, I was bored. Like, really bored. Like, counting the seconds bored. I really wanted to be running, I just didn’t want to be running on the treadmill. I knew I wanted to get 2 miles in, but at the rate I was going, I wasn’t going to make it for .2 miles. So I decided to go fast. Really fast.* I ran my first mile in 10:15 and my second in 9:25. What’s that? You think that’s a typo? Nope. That’s a 9ish minute mile. The great thing about it was that I didn’t feel bad. I wasn’t exceptionally out of breath, my legs weren’t super tired. I felt like I do after every 2 mile run – a little sad it’s over so soon, a little pleased it’s done, a little red in the face (it’s a thing – I get really red when I exercise, even a little bit. People stop and ask me if I’m ok. Yes, I’m fine, I’m just very pale). I’m not sure where all of this speed is coming from, but I’m definitely not going to complain!

*Note: Yes, I realize this is not actually really fast. No, I do not care. It’s really fast for me, and that’s what counts.