Broad Street Run
Well, this has little to do with the van trip, but I wanted to write
it anyway! It's been a long, long road of training for me as a runner. I
started in the winter not being able to run 1 1/2 miles without
stopping to walk, completely winded and incapable. I slacked off for
some
periods, I worked hard for others, I felt inadequate and incapable and
strong and ready all at once, but it's over! I've been training since
Christmas, really, I only started running at Christmas, but it's over
today! (not running! just the race I started running for). I finished
the Broad Street Run (10 miles) in 1:55:06, with NO WALK BREAKS! This is
a very, very big deal for me, as the longest run I had gone on prior to
this race was 8.3 miles, and the longest I had ever run in one go
without stopping for a walk break was only 6.5 miles. I had an average
of about 11:31 minute mile, which is much faster than my usual 12:00
minute mile, and I think I negative split the race (my dad was tracking
me and said I picked up the pace pretty continuously from mile 3
onwards)
I am very happy with my effort and time today, and the
race itself was really fun. It was very hard at times, but I went
through periods of feeling really bad and then feeling pretty good and
strong. My lungs and chest felt very capable and strong the entire run,
which was awesome. My legs were very sore by the end and even now my
knees are quite sore, but I know it'll pass. Gotta get some ice on them!
I
am going
to keep running. I will be trying to run as much as I can on our trip
when we are in safe areas, and building my strength with hiking and
other activities. Based on our plan/trajectory, we will most likely be
in California by mid
September of this year. I have a wonderful aunt who lives out there who
is a serious
runner (much more serious than me) and I am going to ask her to do a
half-marathon with me if there's one around her area around that time!
That's the next goal. She just ran one recently so it won't be a huge
deal for her but I would love to run one with her! But for now I'm going
to
ice up, rest up, drink a bunch of rye, and have a great dinner tonight.
I'll rest a week before running again probably! I am incredibly sore.
But man it's worth it! I feel awesome.
In van news, I
sent basically the last of my stuff home with my parents this weekend,
who came from Boston to see me run! I am now down to really just some
knicknacks, the clothes I'm taking in the van, a few books, and the
clothes I need for work between now and when we leave. We also have
decided on a farm in Michigan we're going to work at from about June
30th to July 21st. I talked to the mom and the daughter and they sound
like lovely people and the farm is going to be great to work at. It
feels really nice to have that kind of set in place.
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