Shut-up Pedro

This morning I went on my longest walk/run and it gave me a lot of time to think...

So the last time I wrote a rant, it was about Napoleon - my pedometer. Well, it turns out that I misjudged poor Napolean. I was upset with Napoleon, because I was pretty sure that he was innacurate, but not so. Napoleon has a new friend, my heart rate monitor, who I call Pedro. Pedro is a great help but he really gets on my nerves too. You see, I started my training a while before I introduced Pedro into the mix. Because of this, I was pushing myself WAY too hard without realizing it. With Pedro keeping track of my heart rate, I have been forced to slow down and I can only run for 24-30 seconds at a time. I get very annoyed when Pedro starts beeping at me to slow down when I am just getting into a groove with running. I wonder if anyone ever sees me shaking my head at him? After much annoyance on my walk/run this morning though, I realized that it isn't Pedro I should be frustrated with - it's the other guys, Ronald, Timmy, Ben, Jerry because if they hadn't spent so much time with me, my poor heart would be able to take a few more steps. And if I am really going to be honest, I can't blame those guys either - I chose to hang out with them when I should have been around guys like Pedro and Napoleon.

A couple of other thoughts also really struck me today. I can now run (even though it's only for a short time) without being in pain. When I first started running, it was very painful - even my gums hurt. Also, when I started, my routine was to walk for 10 minutes, then alternate running for 15 seconds, followed by walking for 45 seconds for the next 10 minutes, then to walk another 10 minutes. I used to absolutely dread that middle 10 minutes and would often cut it shorter because it was SO difficult. Today, I was easily able to keep up my running spurts for 75 minutes - and I even ignored Pedro toward the end and ran for a straight minute - just to see if I could! I know it isn't much but man, sometimes I can't believe how far I have come. Also, I'm not worried about the people in van's anymore, my pace is very slow, but still well under the 16 minute/mile pace I need to keep up for the Disney half-marathon.

Something else I have noticed is the glaring lack of females out there! There are far more men, on the track and especially on the trail. I was about to get really upset about this but then I remembered that there are a lot of ladies when I work out at the Y. So then I felt better. I honestly don't know why anyone would choose to run on a treadmill though, I love being outside at this time of year. I don't know what I will do in the winter - hopefully it won't get icy until January!

I learned a hard lesson today - don't wear new shorts on a long run. Grrr. I haven't seen chaffing like this, hmm, ever. I spent most of my time trying to adjust my shorts - to no avail. Those shorts will never see a run again - they are strictly for cross-training days. I tried Powerade today too, it worked very well, I did get a stitch for a few seconds, but that was it. I've been told by my team mates that it's what is used on the half course so I figured I would experiment with it.

It was very nice to burn just over 800 calories this morning too!!