Pace Yourself

This training, I'm mixing where/how I run these halves. My first I ran outside or at the gym at work. Bailey and I went for runs together until she messed up her knee. (Don't worry, I didn't just start her running at 3 miles, we built up together.) Last spring, I ran exclusively on the treadmill. Now, I'm mixing it up a little. I run on the treadmill when I need to charge my ipod, (you plug it into the machine and it charges it while you run. It's pretty cool and forward thinking). I run outside for my longer runs as long as it's not raining (I'm quite the persnickety prissy runner). I feel that I have to go somewhere to run, or else I won't do it. And I run on the indoor track at the gym to work on my pace work but also on days that I wear pants with pockets so I have a place to put my ipod (I've lost my arm band by way of ass tax and apple doesn't make a band for my model anymore). Though I have a tendency to loose count of my laps which is problematic.

I don't run fast. Which I know sounds very whaa?, because the point of running is to get somewhere faster. What I mean is that I don't take off careening down the track trying to run a lap in under a minute like almost everyone else there. I get passed a lot, quite often I get lapped a few times by a someone. I lap people too, but usually it's the walkers. But so what really. I'm on the track longer, I run the entire time (I really do this time Amy! Aren't you proud of me!), and I do twice the distance that lapper is doing. And even when I pull off and cool down, yeah I'm tired, but I don't look and feel nearly as exhausted as they do.

So I may not be competing with anyone for speed, but I'm still competing in my own way. Mentally and physically, I'm trying to outlast everyone and anyone on that track. And when I manage to do so, I'm not above a little nanny-nanny-boo-boo! in my head.