Intended to try ten on the trail today. Two miles in felt lightheaded and blurry-eyed and just focused on not falling down. Jessica says, “Gee, wonder why?” Because by the time I ran at 10 a.m. all I had eaten was a fruit bar at 8 a.m. and some dry Cheerios at 9:30. So the idea of ten died and I just wanted to survive seven. Struggles lasted those first four miles, then an odd thing happened and I felt transformed. Started cannibalizing brain cells I guess. Ran the last two miles faster today than the previous Saturday, which at the time I had felt was a great run. So after the seven felt so fine I upped it to nine. Not too wise. Eight and nine were basically cool down miles but I felt more fatigued the rest of the day than I should have.
For posterity, today’s splits:
7.44, 7.41, 21.44 (miles 3-5), 6.20, 6.16, (miles 8-9 undetermined)
Looking at those times now, it just doesn’t seem right and certainly doesn’t jibe with remembered experience this morning. Seriously, I was just trying to not faint around mile two, and in fact, as I ran unfocused around mile three, I mis-stepped off a curb and slightly turned my ankle. Even so it looks like I was running negative splits the whole way. Odd that. Felt horrible the first four and strong-strong the last two. Can’t explain it. Just running.
Was it merely a month ago I had this similar experience, with a worse ending, and vowed never to run alone again? Now what?
