Another estimated time - I had my Garmin this time but neglected to time the cool down lap. The weather was nasty beyond nasty, worse by far than anything we'd suffered through yet. By the time I got to the track at 6:30PM it was still 94 degrees outside. Summer is only three days old and I'm sick of it already!
The original plan was for 16 laps with some speedwork, due to the heat this quickly became "16 laps, just get 'em done." We keep getting emails about taking it easy, staying hydrated, and listening to your body and those were all excellent points to keep in mind last night. Some people don't seem the least bit bothered by the heat, though come to think of it those tend to be the people in the 9-10 minute pace groups (and that's their easy mile) who are in stupidly good shape to begin with. Some of us normal folk struggle a bit more though even coach Andy walked a few laps. Even though he was walking it was a bit of a boost to run past him three times.
I really, really considered giving up. I lost track of the laps somewhere after 7 since I wasn't running with a group . I just remember thinking "oh crap, I'm not even HALF WAY THROUGH this stupid ass workout" and I think I kind of zoned out after that. It was probably more a mental hurdle than anything even though I wasn't feeling all that great physically either. I tried to stick with my usual running buddy, if not for her I probably would have given up and gone home after lap 8. We don't talk much but it's just nice to have someone next to you to keep you accountable. Halfway through the last lap the 12 minute group picked us up and we hauled ass through to the end. Then it was time for the cool down...
Which we really, really didn't want to do. We stood out on the sidewalk debating and bargaining with each other when Andy came over and congratulated us on finishing (if you count "you made it" as congratulatory which I do) and let us know the cool down was optional last night. Problem solved, right? Nah. I told Andy that I was debating how much I'd beat myself up if I skipped it and he told me that meant I should definitely do it. So we did. And he's right, I felt much better in every after a leisurely run around the campus. I guess it was character building, I felt pretty proud of myself for not giving up when it would have been so easy to just step off the track and go back to the car. When I got home Bo told me he was proud of me too, that means the world to me!
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