The Lone Runner

• Sat, Nov 28: 7 miles, about 1hr 20 mins on ye olde treadmill.

So at the end of Wednesday's pre-Thanksgiving and macaroni and cheese practice, we found out that, contrary to our training calendar, we only had to run 6-8 miles instead of 12 this Saturday. OMG. Can you imagine it? I wanted to throw a party right there and then. 4-6 miles less? Thank you, thank you, thank you! lol

True to form, I didn't do much for the day and then carted myself to the gym for around 6pm so I could have 2 hours to run before closing time at 8pm. It was me, the treadmill, and whatever was showing on MTV. As it was "only" 8 miles to do I tried to run it quicker, since I have really been struggling with my speed and getting tired way before the end. When the treadmill auto-ended after 1 hr, I was almost at 6miles, so I felt pretty good about that. But, boy, was it a struggle. I got off for a couple minutes and then went back and did 1 more mile so I could stretch a bit before I had to leave. It wasn't 8, but it was more than 6. And I had a chance to figure out what to do if I have to stop for a bit, because the poor legs and knees really seize up and I had to ease back into it. The lesson here: don't stop for long.

One more thing: I think I hate running. I know I don't love it, but perhaps it's progressing to a not-love/hate relationship. I don't know. I'm just putting that out there into the universe so I can see how I feel about it. Probably I'm just frustrated because I feel like it's not getting easier. Or rather, that it should be easier than it is since the truth is, I'm doing it! I don't know. I'm going to see how it goes. I want to think positively about this, but not the fake-positive "it's going to be alright somehow" stuff. More the critical-look-and-reason-that-it-will-be-alright-and-have-a-plan-to-make-that-so stuff. :) Because I firmly believe that I will do this. I just want to do it *well*. (And not so painfully). :)