In the Words of Liz Lemon: Blarg

I always have post-awesome-run anxiety. When I reach or surpass a goal, I feel elated for a little while and then the dread sets in: what if I suck on my next run? What if it was a fluke? Then I think, I can probably run farther next time! But what if I can't?

As I mentioned before, I haven't run since my awesome victory, and I had to take a rest day yesterday because I was really sore from hiking. I woke up this morning and my soreness was almost gone, thankfully. I started to feel a tiny bit hungry for lunch, but didn't want to wait for my food to digest before running, so I headed out. My plan was to try for 30 minutes this time, which was only 2.5 minutes longer than I ran last time. Seemed doable. Although I noticed a little pain in my lower back and shins when I started, it wasn't unbearable, so I kept going. Before I even got to the first mile, though, I noticed that my body was feeling pretty tired. As I hit the point in my run that loops back towards home, I got a little burst of renewed energy and felt pretty good; I knew I wouldn't be running 30 minutes today, but I figured I'd bring it home, which would be about 23 minutes. But soon, I started to drag again, and I was having trouble breathing. What the flip? Then a little lightbulb went on in my head: it was noon, and I hadn't had a single sip of water all day. Whoops. That combined with being a little bit of soreness was messing up my run. Hmmph!

I pushed myself to get to the final turn in my route, and then I allowed myself a walking break. I was kind of dizzy when I stopped, so the water thing was definitely part of the issue. I walked for 2 or 3 minutes, and then ran the rest of the way home. When I got home, another piece of the mistake puzzle fell into place: despite my walking break, I still made it home in 23 minutes. I was running too fast. Again. I need some sort of gizmo that can clock my speed so I stop with this running too fast nonsense! I'd rather run longer at a slower pace than get tired out so quickly.

Oh, well. Despite the fact that my post-awesome-run anxiety was RIGHT, I'm not going to beat myself up. I pushed myself during this run, I didn't give up the minute it got uncomfortable, and I think that's what's really important. Tomorrow is another day, and I will be smarter about my next run.