Progress

Today’s training workshop was interesting but long. I first became worried when we were 1 1/2 hours into the training and the instructors finally finished spelling out the objectives for the two-day course. Throughout the day, I glanced back to the agenda to see how far behind the planned schedule we were.

The discussions continued as the planned lunch break came and went. I wanted to scream for everyone to stop the commentary that was slowing down the presentation. They weren’t worried about lunch as it was waiting outside the door. But, I had a run scheduled for today! When the break finally came, it was decided that we didn’t need the full hour. *sigh*

Somehow, I knew this might happen. I went upstairs to do a little work. A few phone calls and emails later, and I was ready for more learning. But , the course continued to crawl along at snails pace. The questions, though close to the topic (sort of), were beginning to annoy me. My head was soon throbbing in pain and my eyes had a glazed feeling to them. I was cooked.

Thankfully, the instructor began to notice that most of the group was getting the same glazed over look. She ended the day a little early. I went straight to my van and drove home.

All the way home, I ran through ideas in my head for how I could manage today’s run. I really didn’t want to fight for a treadmill at the YMCA. I came up with a plan to run outside – in the dark. The difference from my early morning option was that Tom would actually know that I was going. I would tell him my route and instruct for him to send out the search and rescue team if I did not return.

I cooked dinner, and left while the family was at the table eating. I needed to get outside for a while.

I illuminated Garminia’s face and set the screen to show the average “lap” pace. Coach had instructed me to begin my run at 8:45/mile pace and progressively increase the speed. My first mile clicked off faster than planned. It’s harder to hit the pace when you are traveling along on the sidewalk, going up and down curbs, and slowing for cars (then trying to speed up to recover the pace).

I realized that it wasn’t an ideal situation for this run, but I knew that I was coming up to a nice wide street that had a bike lane that I could run in. It would be a while before I had to return to the sidewalk again. Equipped with my reflective vest, and a headlamp, I was pretty comfortable that I was visible. I only had to watch for tripping hazards. There was also a surprising amount of people out walking. These people all seemed to be wearing dark clothing. I nearly barreled through a couple of them because of this.

Each mile was progressively faster. I think that was the idea. The only problem was that I starting out too fast. In the end, I came pretty close to coach’s prescription. By the time I walked back into my home, I was feeling human again. That’s progress.