Just One Marathon: Thankful

It’s been over two months since I’ve felt really good on a run. I had a great outing at the Ottawa Army Half in September and it’s been all downhill from there – and not in a good way. Nothing’s really wrong. I’ve just felt weak, sluggish and out of breath (and the phlegm, my God, the phlegm).

There are probably a lot of reasons: too many skipped runs, not enough sleep, poor nutrition, inadequate hydration. Whatever. All I knew is that the strong, speedy runner I was last summer seemed to have disappeared, only to be replaced by an even-more-reluctant-than-usual athlete.

I vowed to turn things around with my long run last Sunday morning, but things didn’t seem to be going my way. At 4:30 a.m., my neighbour (the crazy one – doesn’t everyone have at least one?) let her dog out and it barked and howled constantly until 7:30, when another neighbour (the assertive one – fortunately, there’s one of them in every neighbourhood, too) banged on her door and told her to call him in. What with all the drama, I didn’t fall back to sleep until 8 a.m. and woke up at 9:30, already behind on my morning running schedule.

Still, I did my best. I ate a healthy oatmeal/raisin/walnut breakfast-of-champions, drank tons of water, loaded up my iPod with new tunes and headed out. It was cold but sunny and dry – about minus 12C (or 10 degrees Fahrenheit). Perfect running weather, if you’re dressed for it.

At first, it seemed like I was in for my now-typical slow and crappy run. Then I got the 5K bump, and this time it didn’t fade away by 6K. I was running my favourite route along a stretch of green space near my home and was really enjoying peacefulness the big open spaces.

The end of this running route includes three hills: a Mamma hill, a Baby hill and then a big, bad Pappa hill. Usually, Mamma’s a sweetheart, the Baby is a little cranky and Pappa is a brute that kills my pace and sends me home with my tail between my legs. However, just as I approached the hills on this day, the sun came out from behind a cloud and revealed a deer, standing on the opposite side of the road, not 100 metres away. She carefully picked her way across the deserted road and stood looking back. A few moments later, a second deer appeared and made her way across as well. When they reunited on the opposite side, one resting its neck across the other’s in the deer-equivalent of a two-cheek kiss. Then they glanced back at the crazy two-legged creature barrelling towards them in a bright red running jacket and headed for the trees.

Watching the whole drama, I barely realized I was already half-way up Mamma. A feeling of well-being propelled me over the crest of the hill. Suddenly, everything looked beautiful: the brown and gold fields, a glittering stream winding its way down Baby in the trees beside the road, the big blue sky. I felt happy, strong and above all, thankful to the universe for putting me in that place at that moment.

I won’t say Pappa was any less harsh than usual, but I managed to marshal my energy and make my way up the hill without diminishing my speed significantly. More importantly, I didn’t feel completely wiped out at the top of the hill, so I was able to pour on a little extra steam for the last few hundred metres of my run. And that gave me something else to be thankful for – a faster pace:

Last Sunday’s pace (13K): 6:16/K

This Sunday’s pace (13K): 5:56/K

Goal pace for my next half: 5:27/K (still a ways to go)

Thanks to The Runner’s Lounge for the inspiration for the post. This week’s “Take It And Run” Thursday theme is “Thank goodness for running”.