A bad run always turns into a good run eventually
It took a while to get warmed up today.
Some days are like this. I remember the first time I ever ran up Twin Peaks, the first mile was all flat and then it was all uphill. By the time I’d run the flat section I was discouraged and ready to quit. Not just quit by picking another route, but quit running and walk back home. It was difficult and my legs were screaming at me to quit. I felt like a failure.
I kept going and ended up going all the way to the top. When I reached the top I wished there was more to go than just to go back downhill. I felt great. And that was a lesson for me: the first mile or two or sometimes even three miles are always the hardest. If I didn’t remember this fact, I’d give up nearly every run and I’d never make it more than a half-mile away from home. Instead, the longer I run, the more I feel like I could just keep doing it all day.
Case in point: today. Today I found it hard to find my rhythm, difficult to set a pace, and I never really relaxed like I should. It was definitely that first mile that was hardest to push through. The second mile wasn’t easy either, as I transitioned from the Wharf to the Marina and its throngs of beautiful people all running faster than I was. It wasn’t until after mile four that I started to get that feeling that I could keep going all day. It didn’t help that the wind was in my face the whole way out, but even after the turnaround when by all rights I should have been refreshed by the short pause I took to take pictures, I still just puttered along really slowly.
But around the time I came past Fort Mason for the second time I started to feel like I could keep going. I still hadn’t fallen into a comfortable pace like I did on Sunday’s run, but it was starting to be enjoyable again.
This was much better than my last run out here, when I didn’t even make it past the Marina Green. I almost could have gone on to the Golden Gate, but that certainly would have been a mistake.
It’s time for me to start mixing shorter runs into my repertoire. Two three-mile runs are better than one six-mile run. I need to build some consistancy instead of this sporadic getting out to run every now and again thing that I’ve been doing. I don’t have any sort of real training schedule and I should. If I were in shape and running eight minute miles I could afford more flexibility in my schedule (easy to say that now) but since every time I go out I’m starting up all over again, it’s taking a toll on me. I need to train to get up to the level where I can safely and comfortably just be a recreational runner. That’s the only real goal, but even that means I have to work at it.
