Giving in

I started my run in the wrong mindset. I had tired legs during the week and immediately “knew” that I was going to suffer during my 16 mile trek. It could have been those pre-run thoughts, the 90°F weather or my body, but I didn’t make it the whole way running. Around mile 9 I really started thinking about why I torture myself. I kept telling myself that if I get out of the Reserva things will start looking up as it means I’m headed home. The mental battle that ensued for the next hour was a tough one. I even had a young boy yell at me, “Más rápido! Vamos despacita!” If I had the energy, I would have turned around and screamed at him but he got lucky. I got to the unpredictable bridge to find cars were turning their engines on to cross again. I made the decision to not wait and just ran. The navy guys stared at me and didn’t say a word as I crossed and continued on my way. As I was struggling, I convinced myself to run for 2 hours and 40 mins, which would have been 16 miles at a 10 min/mile pace. As I was running slower, I think I only got to about 15 before I walked 4 blocks and then made myself go again. Although I finished I still feel like I gave in as I had to stop and wasn’t happy with myself afterwards. I’m going to have to rethink things before next week.

Halfway mark

As of today, I have run half of the total mileage I will run after I finish the marathon. I’m gone 204 miles in just over 33 hours. It’s crazy to think that the race is in 6 and a half weeks and I’m going to get another 200+ miles in that amount of time. I think scary is a better word. This event was also marked by the return of Running Club as Laura is back from England. We did our separate paths as she had an extra mile, but it was nice to have the high fives and a smiling face to see as we ran around the port.

Pacesetter

I headed to the Bosques de Palermo in a roundabout way to get a bit more mileage in before doing my 2 laps. I had 8 on the schedule and was surprised by the amount of people there. On my first lap, I managed to find a guy that was running just a little quicker than me. So I passed him and then was determined to not let him pass me. I kept him on my heels, but it gave me that extra push to make myself go faster. At times I thought he was going to pass me, but I prevailed and got my 2 laps in while keeping him behind me. I was tempted to ask him when he was going to run again so we could do a repeat. Not sure if he was happy with his run, but it worked well for me.

Goose bumps

The other day Laura and I were discussing what our thoughts are while running. I explained that I try to focus on anything other than running to distract me from what I’m doing. She, on the other hand, thinks only about running trying to push herself faster and the ultimate goal of crossing that finish line. I decided to try that on my 5 miler and ended up with goose bumps, but not from the cold. Just thinking about crossing the line and the feeling of knowing what I was going to accomplish was incredible. I can only imagine what it will be like to actual do it.

Detour

I strapped on my CamelBak, taped on my gel pack and was ready to start on my 15 miles. I had decided to go for 15 instead of the 16 on my schedule as it has that for 2 weeks back-to-back. I figured I would continue to build gradually instead of another 2 mile jump last week. I went down to the Costanera Sur again and was making what I felt was great time. I was upbeat and thought that I was on track to possibly run a sub 10 min/mile. I made it to the final bridge crossing to see that all the traffic was stopped. The bridge was just leaving and I thought about running across anyway, but decided against it. I turned around and went to the next bridge and was rethinking my pathway. I decided to finish up Cordoba and would go until 2 hrs 30 mins and would assess the damage later. I was quite thrilled when I mapped out my new course and realized that I did get my 15 in although I think I could have run faster if I hadn’t been stopped and had to turn around.

Rejuvenated

As I hadn’t gotten in a full run since Saturday and got a normal amount of sleep, I was rejuvenated for the 7 miles that was ahead of me. I had mapped a weird plan as I was trying to avoid looping around the lakes various times. Redundancy causes me to think too much, which can cause problems. Yet for these “short” runs I just keep in mind that it’s nothing compared to the real long ones. I finished in a time that pleased me so it made me appreciate my day off even more.

Cold & Wet

After studying for 7 straight hours, commuting to and from and taking the CLEP test, I was exhausted. I fiddled with the idea getting out and doing my 7 miles, but the rain and coldness was very discouraging and added to my desire to curl up and do nothing. After a little thought (it didn't take that long), I decided to take the day off and just do nothing. I think a day of rest is deserved every now and then.

Running to yoga

As it was a holiday today, I had the whole thing planned out. I was going to run before yoga and then get both in without problems. That was until I didn't leave the house until 6:25 and yoga started at 7. I got in about 2 of the 4 miles I needed before I had to go in for class. I felt a bit guilty, but figured I was still doing something so it wasn't that bad. I also died on Saturday so I tried to rationalize that maybe it's not that bad.

WAAAATER!

I mapped out my 14 miles and was a little anxious. From here on out I'm going further than I've ever gone before. As I had run well the week before I wasn't too concerned, but it was still in my head. Out of nowhere, the weather was a sweltering 88ºF and humid. I was excited to not have to bring out the gloves and get to enjoy the change in the weather...until mile 8. By that time I was soaking wet and knew that I wasn't going to be finishing with energy. I was constantly thinking of what was the next marker that I was going to reach before finally seeing the "home-stretch." I was trying to convince myself that it wasn't really that far that I had to go. Around mile 10 I realized that I didn't have enough water and was going to have to start drinking less to make it to the finish with a drop. As I was on the final uphill straightaway, I got stopped by 3 lights, which I have yet to decide if that was a blessing or not. Part of me was relieved to have an excuse to stop moving while the other half just wanted to make it home. I finished in a record slow time and stopped to buy water. The woman asked me 5 questions as to the type of water I wanted before asking with a concerned look, "Are you okay?" I tried to smile as I took the water and guzzled it as people walking by just stared at the sweating and obviously exhausted person.

Late night

I hung around the house as I knew I was going to go for a later run. Fede was off to play soccer so I figured I'd wait until he was gone. I was thinking maybe leaving at 9 or so when I suddenly realized it was 10:30 p.m. I shot out of the house to get my 4 miles in and as you can imagine I didn't see any other runners at that hour. I made it back for dinner and a shower and was more than ready to crawl into bed. Thank goodness I had planned ahead and had dinner waiting for me.

Wrong Direction

I set off on my 6 miles knowing that it was going to be a difficult one. I started Bikram Yoga on Tuesday and muscles that hadn't been used in years were sore. It amazed me that with all the running I am doing that my butt still had muscles in it that weren't being used. I headed off to the Bosques de Palermo and saw a couple girls that ran with their hair down. And I'm not talking about short hair; they both had it halfway down their backs. I think I would run and find scissors if I tried that. While on my first lap I decided to spice things up and go the opposite way around for the second. You wouldn't think that such a minor change would make a difference, but it did. I felt like I was lost and have decided that it was a one and only time thing. No need for mental confusion while trying to focus.

Slight delay

I had the genius idea today of mapping out a run from where I have to go and pay rent. I hopped on the bus with just enough coins to get me there and the money hidden in my armband. I arrived and the woman was so excited to see me that I got wrapped into talking to her for 2 hours and looking at her pictures from her last trip. As incredible as they were, it delayed my plans for the evening. By the time I hit the pavement, it had cooled off quite a bit and I wanted more than the shorts I had put on when the sun was still up. I just clinched my teeth and headed off on my roundabout way to get home where dinner was waiting for me, complements of Fede.

Closed bridge

I set out on my 12 miles with a gel pack taped to my CamelBak to give me some energy for the last half of my journey. I took more or less the same route as last week until I was about to cross the river to make it to the other side of the docks. I noticed there were more cars than normal waiting and saw the row of boats heading towards the bridge. They had closed the bridge to let them pass meaning I was redirected. I did more or less the same path, but backwards. I made it back and decided to remap the run and see my pace. As it turns out, I speed up incredibly this week and ran an extra mile in 3 mins putting my pace at 9:30 min/mile, which is 45 secs faster than last week. So I'm either getting in shape or that gel pack has magic powers...

Onda Verde

Timing the green lights is not as hard as one would think. I have now discovered that if I have to wait for one light to change it's okay because I run at the perfect pace to catch the rest of them. I'm still perturbed to see the cars passing by in my route as it will affect my time, but it's reassurance that the next ones will be in my favor. Regardless with the crazy drivers here, lights don't always mean too much. Especially to the man that turned directly in my path as I ran across the crosswalk with the little walking man sign. Luckily I saw him coming or I might not be walking as smoothly right now. I even had a few supporters across the street that fired the curse words at the idiot that I was thinking as I was in a bit of shock. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get through this training process without any accidents.

Fartleks

As I entered the loop in the Bosques de Palermo I saw a group of runners dressed in blue moving at a good pace. Shortly thereafter I heard a man yell "Pará" and the crowd slowed to a jog. I knew immediately what they were doing and the memories flooded back. I remember the 6 AM pitch-black workouts doing laps around the football field waiting to hear Coach Morgan's whistle meaning the sprint was over. That minute sprint was one that seemed to last ages, but luckily there was the recovery period to follow. As I made my 2 laps around, I watched as that group as well as another did their fartlek training. It made me really glad that I only had 6 miles instead of that torture. And as I was on the home stretch I saw the blue blob and pushed myself to beat them up the hill. It was my attempt to make me feel not as bad for not doing the fartleks.

I have also officially signed up and received my number so there's no turning back.

The motivation of being late

In accordance with my normal Monday procrastination routine, I dabbled around the house after work and mapped out my run. All the while knowing that I had to meet a friend at 8:30 to take the bus. I looked down at the clock to see it was 7:30 and sprinted out the door. I had 4 miles, which I knew would take a little over 35 minutes if I pushed myself hard. It was a cleansing run as I just kept making my legs go faster and faster. I made it home with enough time to hop in the shower while still sweating and was only 10 minutes late. Knowing that I had to go go go had me moving at record speeds. I finished my run at an average pace of just under a 9 min/mile. Nothing like the motivation of being late.

Outlook good

After last Saturday's long run my outlook on running the marathon had taken a turn for the worse. I finished dead and couldn't imagine running more than double that at one time. Once I finished today, I felt the exact opposite. I definitely knew I had just run 11 miles, but the possibility for more was out there. I had strapped on my CamelBak and set off towards Costanera Sur and Puerto Madero to get a different view of the city and water. It could have been that I knew where I was going or the sun beating down on me, but it was a great run. Slowly counting off markers as I was headed home, I got more energy as I neared. I finished with tan lines on my legs, an empty pouch of water and a tired smile on my face. There is light at the end of the tunnel.