Day 35: I wish it was Sunday...my I don't have to run day..

Actually, it could be any other Monday prior to today. This is my first running Monday. And it follows a Saturday fail day.

Let's get to it.

Saturday I was to run 10 minutes, and I failed. Today I was to walk 5, run 11, walk 5, and I was going for it. It was cloudy all morning, so I had breakfast, and lunch, and water. I thought this was all for the best as I tend to run better later in the day with food in my system. I also made sure I drank all my water yesterday so I was nicely hydrated. I walked downtown this morning, a brief, short walk for errands.

Anyway, off I go, normal route, and I come out of the alley and there is a tres suspicious figure walking along, headed the way I want to go. As he's walking quite slowly, I knew I would have to deal with him if I went my route, so I turned, greatly shortening my loop. OK, today I'll take my old loop, off the main route, requiring me to climb the big hill at the end of the road I've been avoiding like the plague. I've got to get back in the habit of the hills.

It was literally about 5 steps in and I was winded. Lovely. I was having issues with my phone, which gave me a lovely distraction. Also, my mom had just posted pictures of a giant snake on facebook before I left, so I had that on my mind. I did seem to have a fairly nice run going, perhaps due to my utter lack of thinking about the run.

I made it down the road, and headed for the hill, side cramp in full effect. I daresay I conquered that hill quite beautifully today - far better than my previous runs. I actually think I sped up going up it. I turned back towards home, and made it to the next turn off spot and stopped. Full on, hands on my knees, SIX minutes (1.39K) in. It was horrible. I was beat. Utterly defeated, sweltering hot, no breath, and more hills to deal with. I put my hands on my knees as soon as I hit the corner and just stood there, gasping. Clearly I had been running too fast. I started walking in circles, angrily, trying to decide what to do next.

I turned to run slightly uphill back to the main road I had started on. I was fairly certain I was still running too fast, but I set a goal for myself of the next street, which had been my finish line of late (of course my route was all out of whack today). I got there and it was only eight minutes (1.67K) in, but I was done.

I walked home, fully ashamed, ironically listening to Eminem's "Rock Bottom." (OK, maybe not that ironic, given my song selection, but it hadn't come up before!) I tried to be happy with myself for running. I tried to be happy that I made it eight minutes. I tried to look toward tomorrow - my first time I don't have a rest following a run, at all, another run 11 to make up for this catastrophe. I tried not to die of heat stroke.

I walked a sad, sad, 4 minutes home, got my water and my ice, left my nasty socks in the kitchen, and pondered the end of my running days. Iced right inside ankle and back/neck/shoulder area.. I could barely feel the ice I was so sweltering hot still.

Weather: 78, Partly Cloudy, Wind 8mph, 71% Humidity, 81 Heat Index (I beg to differ - it feels like 900 out there. Yes, 900.)
Time: 2:30pm; Walk 5, Run 8, Walk 4 (Shortest total time since Day 19, when I decided to make it a repeat of Day 12.)
Distance: 2.04K (1.27m)
Elevation: +21.2/-37.4/net -16.3 ft
5K/10K: 44:46/1:34:39 (SHUT UP WITH THESE TIMES! Second only to Day 31!!)

Run Time: ~8 minutes
Distance: 1.18K (.73m)
5K/10K: 38:03/1:20:27 (These are the best, but it was slightly more than 8 minutes running, so I'm not quite as excited here, since I can't nail it down.)