11/03/05: A Lonely 5 Mile Run at the Park…

I have never ever felt lonely or alone when I run, but tonight was a definite first. It seemed like it was social hour at the Park…everyone was there with a buddy or friend…everyone except loser me, of course. I can count the amount of times I have done a training run with a partner on both hands. I just tend to run—alone. Granted, I have tons of fellow Striders I could run with (and fellow bloggers! Sorry, I need to put your guy’s phone numbers in my running bag…) but push-comes-to-shove, no one runs my funky pace so I usually opt to run alone (although I did try to follow the MPR’s for about ½ a mile—wow! That was tough when they average 6:30/mile!)

The first mile I ran in an even 8:30. I just let my feet take me and it just felt soooo good to move. I had my iPod going so I didn’t care about anything at that point in time. I slowed down in mile 2 to about 9:02, and then wayyy down in mile 3, speed back up in mile 4, and finished mile 5 with a strong 8:15. With this run, I didn’t care to keep even splits, I just enjoyed the run--I probably could have even run without my watch and been content. Sometimes we get so independent/obsessed with the things that are suppose to help us. Honestly, all that mattered was ME with this run. And the 200 crunches I did after the last mile (ya know, to get that nice burn going for the next day…)

Anyhow, an okay run overall on a nice evening that ended up feeling okay and not so lonely. BUT! I will be out of town until Sunday--I will probably get a 10 mile long run in on Monday (yuck!). It’s a recovery week since the 25k/8.4k is the following Sunday--I’m wayyyy excited as I have mentioned before. I am eager for another PR and to get out of this running (and health) funk I have been in for the last week…

The STATS:

5 miles

ave 9:13/mile

Heart-rate: 166 ave, 184 max

Weather: upper 70’s. breezy.