Base Begins

I have returned to running after a two week hiatus. Ive done two four milers and they have hurt like none other. I might even take a couple days off to recover!

I really took advantage of my two weeks off and made up for some lost time. This past weekend I had some friends visit from out of town and it was an absolute show. Friday was my all out night, but Saturday was still crazy thanks to some guys who didnt drink the night before.

Avoiding Running

I am going to try and write about something other than running. I have been getting stuck on thinking about the spring and getting a little too excited too early. I guess its a good thing that I have that excitement back even if I still have another week and a half before I even start back jogging.
Okay, time to move into another sphere...

I am fortunately easily pleased. This would have worried me in the past, but now I am spinning it to my advantage. It does not take a lot for me to feel the "rush"(thanks Jay for that term). I actually havent made it that far, but I think I have come close. For example, I think I have become infatuated at a rate of 1.3333 per month.

Honestly, that doesnt make much sense to me. Only another week and a half before running returns.

Veterans Day 10k(The Big One)

So I finally reached the race I had been gearing up for the past 3 months. At some point, I decided I would set a goal of trying to pr in the 10k. This was back when I was running in the 31:40s and I am glad I gave myself that challenge.
Well, I ended up not hitting a pr but I am really happy with how things went. I ran 30:33 this morning for 4th place. I did some research afterwards and the winner finished 6th in the 5k at the 2000 Olympic, while 3rd place has run 2:10 for the marathon...so needless to say I am happy with 4th place.
The race was kind of weird because there was pack of 7 people for the first 3 miles. I didnt know it was 7 until afterwards because I was leading and I never looked back during the race to see what was going on behind me. I was expecting it to go out flying but it did not because the guy who I was expecting to win brought some friends down with him from NY and they ended up working together. I actually felt great for the first few miles and then I started to get a little nervous about 2.5 miles in with all the footsteps I heard; at the same time the feeling great went away at this point and there was an unknown runner beside me. I decided to push a little bit to kill my nerves and test the unknown guy. I could tell a gap opened up from looking at the shadows on the ground, but it didnt take long for the out of towners to come around me. They opened a gap which took me about a mile to close down and then they made another move that was too much for me to handle.
The last 1.5 miles that I ran by myself were intense. I was on the verge of blowing up the entire time. I would start breathing really hard and it would take some talking to myself to control my breathing. I am happy that I stayed as relaxed as I could and kept the effort up until the finish.

Up next is a two week break and then I begin phase 1 of 4 which leads me to either Penn Relays or Stanford in late April or early May.

I Feel Awful

I did my final workout today and needless to say it wasnt smooth at all. I did a 1600 in 4:50, a couple 300s, and a 1000 in 3:02. I am not too worried though because I have had good races when I felt awful during the first part of the race and feeling bad a couple days out still gives me a couple days to take it easy.
The next time I post it will be a race report....good or bad.

Therapy

Since this running thing is almost over for the year, I think I need to fill the space with some meaningful posts. I was waiting for after the race but I got the urge to write, so here it is.
I think everybody has fears and problems, but since its not really accepted to put problems out in the open, I think we are forced to keep them in. I kind of came to a conclusion after a late night discussion with a relative stranger, that I should throw things out into the open in hopes that it might elicit a "I thought it was just me" type reaction.
I kind of realized that after the discussion that there was stuff I withheld from even the people I trusted the most. I maybe could have understood if it was something serious, but it was some of the smallest and most meaningless stuff.
One of the best examples I can give is my extreme insecurity. I used to not be able to take being a part of a joke because I would take it seriously even when I knew it was a joke. Ive come to realize that because of the insecurities, I would need constant positive reinforcement. Ive recently come to accept that running was a big part of my life because it would allow me to achieve such positive attention. I also realized that being in a relationship helped to erase the insecurity as well because it helped to produce a feeling of acceptance. I didnt have to worry about how unattractive I thought I was or how I skinny I was whenever I looked in the mirror.
Fortunately at some point I said "fuck it" and went through an acceptance phase. I no longer worry about my appearance and I have no problem being skinnier than I have ever been. So if you are dealing with a similar issue, you will get to a point where you will have to realize that you cant change who you are. You will feel great when you come to learn to accept this and not worry about things beyond your control.
Next up I think I will talk about my never ending social anxiety.

Tempo

I ran a tempo inside of a race today. I didnt feel that great but I didnt really push it, so I should be able to recover really well from this morning. I hit 32:30, which actually is a nice workout considering how I was feeling.

Next up I will be taking a number of easy days before on final workout before the big 10k.

Some Good Some Bad

My legs havent felt all that great since last thursdays workout unfortunately. Fortunately I still have well over a week to get them back under my control. Besides my legs feeling off, I had a really good controlled workout today.

3 x 1600: 4:41, 4:41, 4:50 with 4 minute recovery

2 x 800: 2:22, 2:06(66, 60)

I hit the 4:50 because I needed to make sure the workout stayed comfortable and so I could get a chance to feel out goal race pace.

I am really happy with how today went, the 4:41's felt fairly controlled. I just need to get back into the groove in the next couple of days and I will be ready to go.