Checklists

In spite of the absolutely beautiful morning and waking up feeling very motivated, today’s 12 miles did not come easily. The first couple of miles went fairly well with only some slight toe discomfort, a gorgeous sun-filled sky and a pleasant breeze (fantastic change from the ever-present gale force winds that I typically experience) but right around mile 5, I started to feel more fatigued than I normally would at that point in a run.  Given where I am in my training, it was difficult to not feel discouraged by being challenged on what I felt should have been a relatively easy run.

When I’m running and something is hurting, I’m tired or simply unmotivated, I tend to go through the same thought process each time.  First comes the Am I Okay checklist… that’s where I try to figure out things like if my kneecap really is trying to detach itself from my leg or if it’s something that’s off in my form that I can correct on the fly or can fix later with ice and other magical things.  I then move on to the What Did I Do Wrong checklist where I try to determine if something I did or didn’t do is effecting my energy level or physical abilities… am I hydrated, am I eating well, did I get enough sleep, did I have a second margarita, etc. Lastly, I go through my Eleanor Roosevelt checklist...  that’s where I flip through my mental list of inspirational sayings and images and remind myself of why I’m on this journey and visualize what race day will be like (considering that the mere thought of crossing the finish line makes me totally well up, I have a feeling that it’s likely to be a total sob fest!). 

Although I did have to take 3 walking breaks, my checklists came to my rescue once again by helping me determine that nothing was about to fall off, the fatigue very well may have been because of the second margarita (to say nothing of the lack of water or much food yesterday) and that “The ability to run the extra miles lies between your ears. Keep going.” (thank you, collage of quotation goodness!).

So although it was a struggle, I made it through all 12 miles.  The sad left big toe managed to make it through fairly well although the right big toe managed to acquire the biggest blister I’ve ever seen which is either because of the new socks or the fact that I’m hovering around 30 miles a week mileage which, according to my bible Runner’s World Magazine, can be when all hell breaks loose. I’m thankful that my physical parts cooperated enough to carry on and I’m grateful to my mind for pretending that it didn’t know what I was doing when I was attempting to trick it into continuing on!  

12 miles, 2hrs 3min 7sec, avg 10.15 (I thought my average would be way higher with the walking breaks... Gives me hope that I might be able to finish the marathon before dark!)

Cheers,

SF runner in training