Nine or Ten

Today marked day 18 of the streak! However, rather than an easy 30-40 minute run, I went on a 9-10 mile run. This was not in the plan for another week or two, but my competitive nature and pride got the better of me today. Not wanting to run alone this evening, I texted a younger runner I run with, Lino, to see if he wanted to run in the afternoon. His response was, sure, lets go 11 and he would pick the course.

Now I was in a dilemma! Although I have been running, I am coming off several months of very little to no running and have just gotten comfortable running 4-6 miles at a time, but not 11! How could I turn down Lino's response? I'm a runner! A former darn good runner! I can run 11! I think. Maybe? Come on now Scott! You can do this. You use to run 11 everyday! How hard can it be? Crap! So I respond back to Lino, "yeah, I'll see ya at 3:45." Damn, I'm committed to it now.

To much of my surprise the first 30 minutes felt really good, until we came to the point in the course when I could wimp out and cut it to a comfortable 45 minutes or turn onto the canal and go the full course. As my heart pounded and my head screamed don't do it, I made the turn and committed to the whole distance! What was I thinking? Dude you are 43 and have not built up to this! It is a long, long, long way home if you crash and burn. Oh well.

Now when you are 15-20 years past your prime, 30 pounds overweight and gasping for breath, each step felt like I was in a Nazi Death March! Lino on the other hand is chatting away about how light his feet feel. Geez, and mine feel like lead boots! Now I'm praying, please don't let me have a heart attack or stroke out in public with snot hanging out my nose and slobber bubbling in and out with each breath! On second thought, death might not be so bad. The running gods did not hear my prayers, so I continued to slog away to the finish.

Needless to say, I finished the run. Fortunately, since Lino ran to my house and then home, it was 11 for him and between 9-10 for me. As I staggered into my back driveway I felt a sudden rush of euphoria as my aching legs came stiffly to a halt. Rubbing my raw achy nipples, never wear a cotton shirt on you first long run, I could not believe what I blurted out, "so, we will run again on Thursday?" You would think I would have been happy to roll over and die but no, insanity once again wins the day and I am planning my next 9-10 mile run in just two days! As stated earlier, I am a runner, therefore common sense is not part of my daily routine.

So Lino, thanks for dragging my old fat butt out there today for the best run I have had in over 6 months and I am looking forward to many more this winter. Although with a lot less snot, slobber and raw nipples!

As always, stay healthy and keep running!