Or Maybe I Am Crazy

Our Saturday run this week was 5 miles.

I realize that 5 miles is only a little less than one-fifth of the marathon distance, but I didn't think I was going to get through it. During the first mile, I was sure that I was going to have to start walking the entire last few miles.

My usual comrades weren't at practice, so I ran with our pace leader, Christy, who seems like a really nice and motivating person. She changed our group's pace at the beginning from 3/1 to 4/2 (i.e., four minutes running, two minutes walking).

I tried to remember everything that Jeff and I had gone over at my physical therapy session on Thursday. I mainly focused on keeping a quick and steady cadence, and landing on the mid-section of my feet. I think, for the most part, that I was able to maintain good form throughout the run.

The best part was that I did manage to get through the entire 5 miles at the 4/2 pace. The worst part was that I slowed down a lot. I did the whole thing in 1 hour, 10 minutes, or an average of a 14 minute mile. According to Christy, I started at closer to an 11 minute mile, so I clearly slowed down quite a bit.

More frustrating, however, was how stiff I got. Even after I stretched. By the afternoon, my right foot hurt in a new spot. I'm going to ask Jeff about this when I see him on Friday. Sunday, I hurt everywhere. Seriously.

And that's when the doubt started. Am I insane? Really? This is how my body feels after five miles. I'm going to run 26.1 in a few months? Get real. I just hurt. Did I do everything wrong? No. I'm pretty sure my form was better. Will this get easier? Everyone insists that 5 miles will eventually feel like an "easy" run.

I rested yesterday, with the exception of a nice long walk around Balboa lake with Noah and Mason. It was the first outrageously beautiful day in a while (approx 85 degrees and sunny). But I couldn't believe how crowded Balboa park was. It took so long to find parking. I much prefer the park at 7am on Saturday mornings. This was insane!

But we had a lot of fun, and I got a little less stiff while I was moving. I started feeling more energetic again, and started getting excited again, thinking about the upcoming weekend. This time, we're scheduled to complete 7 miles. I'm sure I'll be able to run 5 miles again this weekend, and if needed, I would still be able to walk the remaining 2 miles. (We are scheduled to do 7 miles this weekend). But maybe I'll be able to keep pace for the entire 7 miles. That would be incredible.

So the question really seems to be: am I crazy for running, or crazy for not wanting to stop?