After my slump which lasted a full week I met my run partner Lisa for a 12 miler on Bayshore Blvd in Tampa...a runners MECCA!
Not sure how I thought 12 miles was a good icebreaker for a slump but it was on my schedule so I did it. I had to prove to myself the slump was random, plus it was time to get a 12 miler in together. I made myself do it as if I had a regular week of good runs to prepare me. (silly girl!)
We had our running belts tapped off with full water bottles, our mini cliff bars, a good night's sleep and a mapped out route. We ran 2.4 miles straight down a side road, talking consistently and forgetting our last agreement not to talk so much. When we came back to our starting point to begin the 10 miles up and back the Boulevard we made a bathroom break and then started our Run/Walk interval.
Oh that first 5.9 miles was wonderful! The breeze, the sun not fully out, lots of energy and adrenaline pumping because we were feeling so strong compared to our last partner run. I knew it was probably an omen to keep saying how strong we felt and how much we had improved in stamina...blasted over-confidence!
We got a little disoriented as we finished out that first straight 5.9 before we turned around to go back. We had never run over to Davis Island and the road split and the side walk didn't follow the GPS route. We stopped momentarily to check the GPS and take a bite of our mini bars. We headed back feeling awesome about our time and distance and then...well you know....you can guess. The sun blasted down like a space heater over head and the breeze dissipated and we started hydrating like crazy because the heat was rising. I drank so much water I started rationing the last have bottle desperate not to be left with two empty bottles for the last few miles.
Then it hit me hard...what, I'm not sure. It was a mix of I'm gonna throw-up because I drank too much, sun stroke or I didn't stretch when I should have....whatever it was I bottomed out with two miles to go. I reasoned that we should not have ran straight out of the gate so hard then we would be having our endorphin push instead of exhaustion. (I say "we" even though "I" was the only one who was struggling). Regardless I began to whine. Lisa was so patient and encouraging. I saw clearly the benefits of a run partner. Though I wished I had been the strong one....oh well there's always next time! LOL!
We stopped briefly to stretch and I whined some more. I cut short a couple run intervals elongating the walks. Then I got sick of myself! How pathetic that I was cheating on a three minute interval and there's just two miles to go....SUCK IT UP CARMEN! I just pushed through the next two intervals and I saw the sidewalk getting shorter toward our finish line and I let it go. Just let it go. It was that easy. Just let the exhaustion and whining go.
We got to our cars and drank the extra bottles of water we had in our cars and talked. We figured out our time and we were pretty encouraged. I apologized profusely for my breakdown and I vowed in my head I would never whine like that again!
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