Delerious

Somehow I ran 6 miles yesterday. Frankly, it sucked. I was super motivated to go out and run - the sun was all shiny and the blue sky was all happy and I was all, yes, this is going to be awesome, finally I get to run outside! No. It was COLD. And windy. It was NOT 45 like the weather channel kept saying. As soon as I started off, I wanted to stop. My lips were numb from the cold. My ass hurt. My stomach was upset. I felt like I was going to hurl (??). I wanted to turn around, but I just kept thinking, just keep going cause the way back is mostly a downgrade and it will feel great and let's just see if you can do it, one more half mile, just one more. I kept trying to focus on all the things I'm thankful for... that I CAN run, that my legs both work, and that the sky is clean and blue and that the icky cancer-curing stuff is behind me, etc. Eventually the half miles added up to three and at the turn around point, I really did start to feel much better. I guess I found my stride, plus the wind was at my back and the downgrade on the trail made it easier!!

BUT... right around the halfway point, I became acutely, depressingly, DESPERATELY thirsty. All I could think about was how badly I wanted some water - just a sip - and how the more I thought about how I wanted water, the more I wanted water.


The creek bubbled along mockingly to my right and if it hadn't been for the random trash and debris floating here and there, I would totally have crashed down the ravine and stuck my face in it, it looked so cool and yummy. I even thought about pushing down some unsuspecting fellow jogger and stealing their water bottle! The fountains didn't work so I had to wait till I got to the ranger station and the running water in the restroom.

Let me tell you, I don't think water has ever tasted that good before. It was running out of a rusty tap in a stinky old bathroom and it could have been the cleanest glacier runoff, sealed away in ice from a time before air pollution, it was so good. I drank and drank and drank until my belly was full. Then, of course, I didn't want to run again, but alas, my base layer was soaked and I still had two miles to home and would have gotten hypothermia if I tried to walk, I think. Lucky thing, that. Forced me to run the rest of the way!! After I was done, all the endorphins flooded my brain and I began to forget the suckiness!

I finished in 1:23:16. That includes the time I spent on my water break and time at the intersections. Probably I ran it in about 1:10 or so... 11 minute miles. There's probably no way I will run the race in 1:40, if I run it at all... but who knows? I might do something magical on race day...