Not so speedy
I did my first official "speed work" last night. Most of my runs throughout the week are kept at a slow, easy pace. I have one run a week that is a little faster and one that is longer. Last night was intervals, which means I got to run around a track multiple times. I was dreading it! I don't like running in circles. That is why I was outside with a scarf around my face and my glasses freezing over when I ran on the coldest day of the year last winter.
I was supposed to run a lap at 5k pace...slow for the rest of the world, but close to as fast as I can go. Then I was supposed to slow way down and jog or walk half a lap to recover. As soon as I was done with the half lap recovery I started over. I did eight intervals. I haven't run around a track more than about 4 times before and that was many years ago. They actually weren't very bad. It may be that my heart pounding out of my chest and the buckets of sweat pouring down my face distracted me from the fact that I was running in circles!
There was a five or six year old little boy with his mom at the track. He was riding his bike that had training wheels on it. This track is old and very messed up. There are quite a few "pot holes" in it. He would get stuck in a hole every now and then, or just have a hard time keep the bike going on the poor surface. Every once in a while I would pass him and he would say something about having a hard time going. I could tell that him and his mom were talking about me. It entertained me as I was running. When I stopped to stretch, he rode past me and he was so excited to pass me. To think that he thought I was fast enough that he wanted to try to pass me... for a penguin like me, that made my day! Thanks Alex for boosting my ego just a bit.
Total miles last night = 4.5 Approximate miles since starting to run = 365
Posted in: on Thursday, July 26, 2007 at at 8:39 AM
