Four and Seven Tenths

Yesterday morning, Ed left at about 5:20 to go run in a race. I slept until 7, and then I got up, wishing just a little bit that I was also out there running with him. I'd decided not to sign up since trails and I haven't really gotten along here in Arizona, and especially since I gone on all of 3 or so runs here, it seemed like a good decision.

But, running itself sounded good, and I started wondering. Wondering if it would be cool enough, if my body would be fit enough, if I would be motivated to get out there. So, I decided to check out the weather first, and saw temperatures below 70. This is such a crazy difference from a few months ago, when the lowest low was in the 80s.

I realized to answer the other two questions, I couldn't do much else but head out the door, so that's what I did. Lacing up my running shoes, I felt excited, but a little nervous, too. Because I like a challenge, I envisioned a potentially challenging loop that I had been thinking about for a while. It basically just used the major streets near us, making a big square around where we live and not crossing any major streets (so no lights to navigate). Now, it would not challenging for a regular runner, but it was much longer than anything I had attempted since our more. I honestly didn't check to see how far the loop was, because I was worried numbers might scare me off. I just hooked up my iPod, grabbed a bottle of cold water and a visor, and headed out that door.

A blast of cold air (okay, not warm air) hit me as I headed outside, reminding me that it may still be hot by the rest of the world's standards, but we have definitely hit Phoenix's fall.

The loop itself was pretty uneventful, punctuated by waves of pride as I realized how great the run was going, and waves of reflection. I think I'd almost forgotten how lovely it is to be alone with my thoughts. That lovely feeling where thoughts enter and then leave your mind with each falling footstep, letting you process your life without the usual stress that accompanies that kind of processing.

About halfway through, a woman ran by in the other direction, sporting an Arizona Marathon shirt, and before I knew what I was doing, I started speeding up as my mind starting throwing thoughts at me: "What Bout signing up for the half marathon in January? I could do that! Running is amazing! I feel awesome! I can do-"

In the middle of this stream of consciousness, I realized that my breathing was getting heavy and my legs were starting to burn a little.

Oops. Guess I got a little too enthusiastic. I slowed down my thoughts and my body and felt much better. I think I'll keep those ambitious thoughts on hold for a little bit, at least until I start being able to run more regularly.

As I rounded the corner onto the 3rd street (and the 3rdish mile), I could tell my body was starting to get tired. I started thinking about  that feeling you get around mile 20 of a marathon, when you're just feeling tired and sort of done and all you can think about is getting to your destination. The only plus side about being sort of out of shape, is you get to experience that marathon feeling in a much shorter run :).

Heading back onto our main street, I knew I was getting close, and finally, I was back on our block and in front of our house. I felt tired, but pretty darn great, and not even close to as overheated as I'd been on every other run so far here. When I got on the computer, and discovered my run was actually 4.7, I was so thrilled. That's the furthest I've run in such a huge amount of time, and I ran it all!

As I seem to say after every run, I'm going to have to see how things go in terms of regularly running. Nerve pain is still very much aggravated by the running, as my hurting feet will attest, but I am going to use some of my break time this week to line up a new doctor and hopefully get this taken care of.

Nonetheless, the fact remains that yesterday, I was decidedly a runner.