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Monday, September 26, 2011

“Challenges make life interesting, however, overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” ~ Mark Twain

Spartan Shape-Up, Day 67:

What an intense day today, BlogLand. Seriously, it was like one extreme to the other. The day seemed like it was going to be a sunshiney nice, relaxed Sunday... and then it went downhill.

My two rescue dogs got in a raging, bloody (literally), rip-each-other's-face-off contest... and it was a bit traumatic. I am excellent in or DURING the crisis situation - calm, doing what needs to be done - but as soon as we managed to get them separated, I walked through a puddle of blood, towing my white dog (who looked worthy of a horror movie, at that moment), while realizing I had blood all over me (including my face).... out into the front yard... held it together for t-minus 3ish minutes, to inspect his eyes, gashes and teeth..... then proceeded to shake, dry heave and be nauseous for the next 30 mins, while applying cold compresses to his face. Me and my dog, sitting on the lawn together, must've been QUITE the sight.

I was in a rough place. But, I was just coming off TWO rest days in a row (legs were feeling pretty good!), I thought that maybe the best thing would be to rally and head out on my run. Perhaps today was going to be a good day to attack my hill run. Just vent some of the emotion in that particular way. A healthy outlet, if you will.

(OH! Speaking of outlets, I just found out they're opening an Under Armor OUTLET not too far from my house in a couple weeks! EEEE!!!! I have an irrational love of that stuff.)

So, home I go, suit up, sneakers on and out into the wild I go. Get to the bottom of The Hill, pause briefly to gather some huzpah and plow forward. My tactic is a consistent, maintained pace right to the top, rather than a sprint that I'd have to quit and walk halfway there.
.... And then I had the strangest experience. As I'm running (up the hill that seems like FOREVER), I hear this random applause and stuff, and I check my music, because I'm like DAMN, do I have some weird live version of this song or something...?.. and then I look up. There is a middle-aged woman and her dog, at the top of the hill, cheering and clapping and yelling encouragement at me. Honestly, I was like, uuhmmm, WTF?!.... then (motivated to not look like a slacker) I got to the top, all panting and out of breath, and she says, "GOOD FOR YOU. I can't do that, but that is DAMN good for you, girl."... and turns and walks away, leaving me standing there feeling pretty damn positive, motivated and kind of badass, only able to be like "THANK you!!!"
Moral of the Story: Random acts of Encouragement are too few and far between, but AWESOME. DO THEM. 
Seriously, I don't think that woman had any idea how insanely much I needed that extra boost of positivity at that juncture. And really, who doesn't love their own personal cheering section. I'll tell ya, I definitely got up that hill with quite a bit more gusto than usual. So very awesome. A big Thank You, to the Cosmos for sending me Cheering Lady today. :-)

That said, here's today's Run Stats:
Time: 36.22 min.
Distance: 3.12 mi.
Average Pace: 11.61 mi/min (although iMapMyRun seems to think it's 11.40? Whatevs.)


So, as you can see, I am painfully consistent with my mile times. Real slow. BUT. Since I am currently "not worrying about speed on [my] runs," I will simply leave that be with this pearl of wisdom: No Matter How Slow You Go, You're Passing EVERYONE On The Couch.

With that, I feel pretty good today. I think my muscles definitely benefited from the two-day break. Now we dive into the deep end, as the week starts. Tomorrow is what I will now affectionately call my Death Swing workout.... which, out of necessity, is going to get done at 6am. I am not anywhere near being a morning person. We shall see how this goes. I intend to actively try not to fall-asleep mid-swing, resulting in weight-face contact. LOL.

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