Eight is Enough

I have the most annoying alarm clock in the world. My roommates hate it, my neighbors hate it and I detest it. This morning it violently and without fail, summoned my dreaming body to rise at 7 am. After a struggle with the snooze bar and thoughts of calling in dead to my team, I got out of my most comfy bed and commenced my morning of masochism.

Teammate Randy was awesome enough to offer a ride up to the park. Needless to say, sarcasm and bitchy whining consumed the 10 minute trip. Roxie brings it out in me, but only because she tolerates my "moments of f this." We met up with one of the coaches as we entered the Park at 72nd and walked towards the Bethesda meeting point. I must say, I don't "get" runners. Coach was saying how we were lucky it was a nice day. Nice day? It was cold, about 35, damp and absolutely grey. Oh well, they're a special breed.

The beginners group was going to do a full loop of the park, or about 6 miles. I consider myself a beginner, but I did 6 last week and wanted to best that. Roxie was going for two middle loops of 4 each so that sounded like a plan. I hate running alone - I lose motivation very fast and it feels like forever so even though I'd be running with a "remedial advanced" runner/past marathoner like Roxie, it sounded better than doing a full loop by myself...and I wasn't in the mood to make new friends.

We started off at what I thought was a slowish pace, but soon enough my breath was getting shorter and the talking died down between the two of us. One of my biggest problems as a newbie is pacing. I'm used to 2 miles on a treadmill with hot girls flanking my sides. Do you think I'm going to do 10 minute miles when I'm on a treadmill? No, I'm a man - I'm stupid, I want to show the ladies how much of a running stud I am, so, I do 7-8 minute miles. Yeah, well, that crap doesn't work in Central Park and it definitely won't work over 26.2 miles. As much as my legs wanted to go faster, I kept telling myself, we're doing 8 and there's hills and concrete and tomorrow to think about. The first loop overall felt ok, especially once we passed the transverse at 102nd Street (the halfway point of the 4 mile loop). Looking at multi-million dollar apartments on both 5th avenue and Central Park West is a little annoying, but spring is around the corner and hopefully the leaves will soon cover up that view. Yes, I am that guy. When we finished our first loop, we stopped for a quick water break. I was initially opposed because I don't like what my legs do after I've run a few miles and then stop, but "f it," I thought, I was thirsty and had 4 more to go.

The beginning of the 2nd loop around sucked. I actually lied to Roxie at one point and told her that I was fine. My knees were starting to hurt and I wanted home. I actually sped up again, which Roxie responded to with a "go ahead." But, I stayed back. I was only speeding up because the thought of over 3 miles to go was just making me mad. Also, and I kid you not, some woman with what seemed like a soft cast on her lower leg/ankle passed me and that definitely didn't help. As she did her best impersonation of Verbal Kint from The Usual Suspects, I had to laugh because on the inside I was sobbing. I knew I needed the company to get through it so I decided to keep the same pace as loop 1. Halfway through I said how I thought I could do a marathon at the pace we were going at because even though it was uncomfortable, it wasn't overly painful (yet). I think I was getting a little ahead of myself saying that I could run 5 hours without stopping - I was obviously high. When we headed down CPW I could feel the end of my running morning and completion of my new personal best (many more to come). I was also craving a Red Gatorade and therefore was happy we had done that water break in between. With 100 yards to go, I started smiling and thanking God/Bill Clinton/Allah/Buddah/Vishnu etc. that I had once again made it. We stretched, shared some banana bread, joked and back home it was. I've been icing my knees ever since, but a hint of that post-run smile remains.

Miles Ran: 8 and change
Episodes of South Park watched to numb the pain: 2
Planned hours of strenuous activity for Sunday: 0