Wednesday, September 23, 2009

For Melissa

Okay.. so today I was talking to Melissa about running and she was asking me questions like: What do you do when you run for 2 hours to keep your mind occupied, and to keep going? (Hmm... I think she was questioning my sanity.) I kind of talked about music and random thoughts and that I really didn't know what I would think when I was running for 2 full hours.

Wednesdays are my longer weekday run (Saturdays are my crazy long run days). Today was 5 miles. I am still a little sore (specifically my butt) from the trainer on Monday so I wasn't exactly looking forward to the 5 miles I had to do today. [In case you are wondering, I googled how to train for a 1/2 marathon and printed out a schedule... I faithfully run EXACTLY what it says I have to each day!] My hubby got home and since it has been slightly cooler lately, I decided I should just get it over with.

Before I go any further... a little background. I have an obsessive personality, (in case you haven't noticed). I have several different runs, all carefully planned and mapped out, in 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 mile runs. SO... my 5 mile run IS MY 5 MILE RUN!! No dog, tractor, or construction worker can get in my path... I must run what I must run... I know.. I'm lame.

So... I head off to my 5 miler, I go up about 7 blocks and then head South. The road is closed about .25 miles ahead of where I turn but I always am able to maneuver my way through the construction, tractors, gravel, construction workers, etc... today is no exception. I run through them without too much struggle and continue on. I run through an intersection and out into the country roads... again there is another Road Closed sign... ARE YOU SERIOUS?!??! I look up ahead and see huge tractors but assume I will be able to run through them. I was beyond frustrated when I got past the tractors and saw that the road was FENCED OFF... SERIOUSLY?!?! I swear out loud. You know... like one of those 4 letter words that you NEVER want to hear your 2 year old or your grandmother say... something along the lines of "you've got to be @#$%$^# kidding me!!!" The construction guy looks at me and tells me I can go around the fence... hmm.... so I run down a dry canal only to find that the fence is connected to barbed wire, that goes on for miles in farmers fields... Screw it.. I'm small enough... I can fit through this damn fence... so I go through the barbed wire fence, then back out the barbed wire onto the road. By now I'm beyond frustrated and only about 1.5 miles into my run. I HATE stopping while I'm running. I feel like my whole run is ruined and almost convince myself that 5 miles is just too much to do today! UGH!!!! I convince myself that I HAVE to do it. 5 is the number on my calendar... 5 is what I am going to do. I keep running, all the while convincing myself that I can't do it... by the time I've finally distracted myself by really listening to the words of my music I am breathing better and KNOW that I have no choice... and I know it will be okay. I'm now 3 miles into my run when the song "Brick' comes on. I start to analyze the song. It reminds me of Mindy, and working at JB's and my HS boyfriend... and how Mindy made out with my HS boyfriend (who is now GAY)... ;o) And then... my wireless headphones die. 3.1 miles into my 5 mile run... MUSIC IS GONE!! Pretty sure I swear out loud AGAIN!!

So.. what do you do when you are running with no music and you feel like you are going to die? I started to think about my blog... what I would write. Crazy I know. I HATE excuses. And I thought... if I don't finish this stupid run, I'll have let the excuses win. (We are talking lameo excuses like... "the construction messed up MY run... it's not my fault!") I started thinking about the Biggest Loser. I HATE when Amanda starts talking about how she was "America's Choice" I'm always like... we didn't pick you out of a million people it was you or her...... and you SO aren't even close to one of my favorites... but.. in a sick perverted way... I know how she feels. I LOVE blogging because, I know that there are lots of people who read this .. even if they don't comment. And I feel an accountability to all of the people who are watching me.. to succeed! So... I kept running. At some point I thought... the only way this could get worse is if I got attacked by a dog or hit by a car. Neither of them happened. I finished my stupid run... huffing and puffing... and I was very amused when I looked at my timer/gps and saw that I had ran it 33 seconds faster than I've ran it before. GO FIGURE!!

8 comments:

M and A said...

great time! way to keep going no matter what!!!! i usually always have to stop running. this week i did a 4 mi run i think. had to run into the walgreens to pee halfway! i seriously didn't want to walk back because i had to pee, so that was the only solution! LOL

Christen Farmer said...

Well u posted the blog so I knew u didn't get hit by a car but I soooo thought u were going to say you got chased by a dog or dogs. Lol u r obsessive but that's what keeps u going. I admire your will power and hope that I can get to where my body can do the things that u convince urs it can do. Way to go!!!

Kelli said...

Way to go Karilynn! I Love your attitude about everything.

rochelle said...

How frustrating! I'm glad you kept going despite the setbacks. Great idea pulling a 1/2 marathon training from the internet. Maybe I'll check into that. Any cool runs coming up?

Vicki said...

Awesome :)
How come you just didn't do your 2 mile loop and then the 3 mile one? That would have been to easy ;)

Karilynn said...

I do not have a 2 mile loop... I have a 2 miler but it's just up to the school and back and once I'm home, I don't want to go out again!!

Elise said...

I HAVE DONE THE SAME THING! Not in this particular weight loss jouney, but in previous times. I have finished a run from HELL just because I didn't want to get home and tell my hubby that 'I couldn't do it' or to post on my blog that 'It just wasn't a great run'. I wanted to report a success...even if it killed me! Great job!

Spitfire said...

THAT was a great blog. I love how obsessive you are about it...it guarantees your success. And I literally laughed out loud at you HS boyfriend, who cheated on you, ending up being gay. I guess he wasn't really that into either of you. ;o)
I also love how determined and fierce you are. You are amazing! I thoroughly enjoy your blogs and I'm so happy you got me hooked.