One Year Out

Facebook told me that 1 year ago today was the day I did the first day of my Zombies Run 5K app.

I wish I could say that after a solid year, today I had a great run, that I feel awesome!

Sadly, I can't, because arthritis is a jerk and I've had a stomachache the past two days. I ran 2K in 18:46 which is frankly pretty grossly slow. That's when I realized I should probably go home before I barf.

So I did.

I'm hoping I can do my 40 minute run tomorrow and smash past 5K, but I'm not holding out hope. The weather has been too weird and my joints are too angry at me.

On the bright side, I can run an hour straight (I think, the most I did was 53 minutes on Saturday but 7 more minutes was probably doable). This day last year I was struggling for 15 seconds.

Not much has changed in a year. Same water bottle and everything!

So here's hoping I can run tomorrow. I have to do a 7K run on Saturday!

I emerge from my hiding place...

It's been a while, friends!

Unfortunately, until recently I wasn't running regularly. I blame winter. and illness (DARN YOU CROHN'S). And depression. And anxiety.

BUT! I realized that the zoo 5K was around the corner (okay, like two months) and my 5K pace was abysmally slow. I ran my first 5K in less than 36 minutes! There's no reason I should be running a 5K in more than 40 minutes. So I bit the bullet and decided that come hell or high water, I would PR at the Make Tracks for the Zoo 5K. It's... slow going. But hey, it was around this time that I started running last year, and I went from not being able to run more than 30 seconds in one go to that awesome 35:56 in 8 weeks. I'm pretty sure I can get under 35 by then.

Not entirely flattering but hey, I was tired.

Today's run was interesting. It wasn't hard, per se, but it was definitely a mental challenge. I had a half-hearted goal of running 5K in 40 minutes or less. I hit 3K at 26 minutes and freaked out a bit. So I pushed myself harder and harder. I think this is the first time since my first 5K that my pace got faster with each passing kilometer. My last kilometer I had a pace of about 7:11 (nice). I was getting a bit winded so I quit what I thought was just shy of 5K so I could cool down walk. I'm not entirely sure what the break down was (my app glitched a bit), but I'm pretty sure the 5K was around 40-41 minutes.

Even if it was a whole minute slower than I initially wanted, I can't complain. For one, I was incredibly distracted for the first km considering my dear pink headphones started cutting out with every stride. For another, I apparently decided today was the day that I'd run hills. In my first kilometer I attacked a hillier area than I'm used to. So if I wasn't distracted and I didn't have to run uphill, I'm pretty confident I would have slightly exceeded my half-hearted goal. I can't really complain. In fact, it was a really good run.

I may have to retire my pink headphones though. Thankfully I have a really swanky pair that came with my phone. Pink ones will be for travel only! And travel I mean vehicular travel, not running from zombies. :P