I've seen Fire, and I've seen Pain...

January 13

Today is Sunday and I hereby mark this day as my first long run. It is also my first run outdoors.

First, let me say that yesterday's run was great. I easily ran 30 minutes on the treadmill and even stretched my time between running and walking to something like 11 and 2. This accomplishment, no matter how minor, gave me the confidence I needed to go for a longer run Today.

The weather was beautiful Today. 45 degrees and bright sun. Perfect for some quality time in the great outdoors of America's own "Track Town, USA" (for those of you who didn't know, Eugene is officially referred to as "Track Town, USA". I am unsure why this is, but my guess is the whole Prefontaine legacy, the birth of Nike, and stuff like that. You'll have to ask a proper runner for the real answer, however). I was looking forward to the outside run. I thought at the very least, it would be much cooler than on the treadmill (a prophecy which would become true).

As it turns out, I learned something before I even left the house: My iPod has designated right and left ear things. How did this useful knowledge become aware to me? I saw (by chance) the little R and L on the respective ear buds. Some of you may know this already (and may be laughing because I did not). Can I just tell you that the mystery is solved as to why they sometimes stay in place, and sometimes they do not? Sure, I wasn't feeling exactly like a genius when I began my run, but I did have some peace of mind that finally put the inconsistency issue to bed (where I would wish to be in the not-to-distant-future).

Being "Track Town, USA", Eugene doesn't disappoint in it's adequate supply of running trails, one of which is three blocks from my house. It goes for miles and miles and it's comprised of well-maintained bark mulch. I typically don't care for it because little shavings of bark get in my socks (itchy), but I decided I'd hardly notice such a minor nuisance with the ample amount of aches and pains.

I hit the trail and was running in no time. Today was the first dry day in quite some time. Probably a few weeks. This left the trail soggy and in some parts muddy. As I navigated my way around the larger sink holes, I decided to jump off the trail and head towards downtown. I hopped onto a paved bike trail, which led me to a quiet street with a nice open sidewalk. As I started, I glanced at my watch to see if it was time for a walking break and only about 5 minutes had passed. I couldn't believe it! It felt like ten. I placed the blame on the wind for this, as I was running against it. I also felt extremely slow. This was attributed to the wind as well. (In case you are wondering, the wind did not have the adverse affect when I switched directions. I had hoped to speed up by virtue of the sheer laws of physics alone, but it did not happen.)

All in all, as I ran down the street (slowly), I felt pretty good. Sure, the pavement was hard on my knees, but I had built-in ice packs on them. I chose to run in only a long-sleeved t-shirt and my running skirt. Greg encouraged me to do so and promised I'd warm up quickly. And he was right. I was very warm, except for the small oddity that my legs were cold to the touch and had goosebumps on them. I didn't FEEL cold at all. It was truly an odd sensation and I was thankful for it because of the Nature's Ice Pack it provided for my knees, calves, and shins. Gotta love it.

I planned to run for 40 minutes today. Once my watch showed that I had run for twenty minutes, I switched directions and headed home. I started to pick up a pretty good pace and (I'm not making this up) began to enjoy looking around as I trotted through a campus-area neighborhood. Dogs, Frisbees, upholstered porch furniture, and Olympia beer cans were all around.

I ran back a slightly different street, but it led me to the same mouth of the bike path I used earlier. I was already feeling a little tired and out of sorts. I'd been running for about 35 minutes at this point and the end was near. I felt good, but knew it wasn't going to last much longer. I'd began singing out loud to distract myself from the pain. You may think this is humorous, and sure it was probably a sight to behold for passers-by, but I defy you to NOT sing aloud to Toby Keith's "How do you like me now" when running to the point of exhaustion. You won't be able to avoid it.

As I was running on the bike path, I felt as though I should have veered off towards my street already. At about the same time, I look across a large creek bed, complete with swampy slope on either side, and see little figures (people at a distance) happily running on a bark mulch trail. What are they doing over there? I wondered to myself while singing to James Taylor's "Fire and Rain" (not to myself, but to everyone). Why am I going AWAY from the direction I'm supposed to be heading?

Well, in case you should ever find yourselves running this trail, let me give you a little tip: the Bike Path separates from the running trail at 24th street (a short three blocks from my house) and takes you completely in the opposite direction and doesn't give you an opportunity to meet back with the bark trail for more than a mile. You may be wondering how I could have not seen the bark mulch trail and instead followed the hard concrete bike path. I, too, am wondering this and as far as I can tell, the only plausible explanation is that I must have fallen asleep while running and had my eyes closed at the time.

I do not know how many miles I ran today. My detour added about 15 minutes to my run, so I suspect it was about a mile and a half. I believe I ran for two miles before turning back (20 minutes), so that would be 2 miles up, 2 miles back, and a 1.5 mile detour. Simple math allows us to conclude my run today was about 5.5 miles. A LOT longer than intended and much more than my body was ready to run. I actually felt OK, but I knew my out of shape legs were not ready for it. I now know that I can run for 55 minutes without collapsing. I also know that I should pay better attention to where I'm running.

I arrived home to Greg on his bike trainer, happily chatting to his parents on the phone at the same time and Emelyn napping. I stretched for a moment, took a hot shower, and collapsed on the couch to read my Non-Runners Marathon Guide for Women book while nibbling on a Lara Bar. I quickly fell asleep and the next thing I knew Greg was in the kitchen getting dinner ready and an hour and a half had gone by. I was completely dead to the world around me during my nap. It did not take too much time at all, however, for said world to come screaming back. You see, I learned something else today: Lactic Acid can actually build up within 2 hours of a run, should the runner be running outside of his/her means and foolishly over-training. I previously thought there'd be no pain for 12 hours, but I was painfully wrong.

Tomorrow is a rest and I will gladly do as little physical activity as possible!