See you down the trail, Shelby Park...
I’m one week away from the Tomato 5k…and, since we are doing our training on the actual course on Monday and Wednesday, today was the last run in Shelby Park with my running group.
2.5 miles. On the greenway.
This was a test. A major test. I had run 2 miles on the treadmill before but…yeah, running on the road is vastly different.
I made it a half mile and the BACK of my leg started hurting. So I figured there was no shame in walking for a moment…which is what I did.
I kicked back up before the .75 mile pole (no, I’m not a horse…the trail is actually marked with quarter poles) and made it past the “bouncy bridge” – named because despite looking sturdy…it bounces when you run on it…which is why I decided to walk it…something about an entire bridge bounding into your moving knees.
But anywho…I decided I’d continue with my little walk-run method until I came to the 1.25 mile marker/turnaround…where my coach was waiting on me. He decided he’d push me…and boy did he…if I needed to walk, I’d count down my running steps from 100 before I walked…and then took 50 walking steps before starting up again. This was to push me…if I was about to crap out it gave me a little incentive to run a little longer.
I was about to puke…but I made it to the finish, having run a total of about 2 of the 2.5 miles.
Not too shabby, I don’t think.
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