When I start to run up a hill, I almost never have any doubt that I will make it to the top; it is merely a question of how much it is going to suck. I said this to myself this afternoon as I ran up the hill to Herkimer College (often referred to as HCCC in this blog) (incidentally, that is read, “H-triple-C”). Then I tried to calculate exactly how much it actually sucked. How are these things measured, anyways?
Of course no run, however bad, entirely sucks. For one reason, you are doing it. The satisfaction of Running Anyways is not to be denied. When one is working towards a goal — in my case, the Boilermaker 15K — one can also comfort oneself that one is making progress. When I run up the hill to Hekimer College, another reward is the wonderful views when I get to the top.
One plan I had considered for this week was to run Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. As may have been expected, I wussed out on Wednesday. I would accept no excuses from myself today (to give myself some credit, I did not even try to come up with any). Since I had not run Wednesday and since I am having serious doubts of my ability to run the Boilermaker and not have it suck (see first paragraph), I thought I should run a longish run and include hills.
After considering and discarding several routes, I turned up Lou Ambers Drive and headed for the college. It was not fun. I wondered if I would ever reach the I Can Rock This stage again. But I kept going. Once I got to campus I kept going uphill, by the buildings and around the athletic fields. Oh, it took a long time. To be fair, it did not suck the whole time. It never felt wonderful, but at certain times it was… neutral.
At last I was headed down Reservoir Road. Downhill did not feel as good as it usually does. For one reason, I worked on my feet all day today. For another reason, I REALLY need to get to the Sneaker Store in New Hartford, NY, and get new running shoes. Never mind, I told myself. Just make up your mind to it your feet are going to hurt ALL THE TIME and don’t worry about it. I looked around at the distant views and the closer scenery to take my mind off it. That helped.
My previous longest run time had been 41 minutes (I may have said 40 in an earlier blog post, but I checked my running journal and it’s 41). It was soon apparent I would not get back home in that length of time. I feared I would be increasing my time by longer than the recommended 10 percent. I felt that would be OK, because I’m training for the Boilermaker. I have to get used to running for long periods of time.
I ended up running for 46 minutes. I did not feel pretty terrific, as I often do after a run. I felt, and still feel tired. I thought I was too tired to write a blog post. It seems I was not. Was I too tired to write a good blog post? Oh, who cares? It’s Non-Sequitur Thursday. Slap on a title and call it a night.
Mohawk Valley Girl 