A New PR with My “Pacer”

First of all, I would like to say thank you to the folks who commented on my last post about eating before running.  I really do appreciate the input, because it helps me tremendously to know what others do!

Today was my first Monday three-miler, based on my 10k training plan.  On Mondays, I run right after I drop the kids off at school, but I was running behind after spending several minutes saying goodbye to our retiring school secretary and my son’s teacher.  On top of that, I got home to find my husband wasn’t home from work yet. Since DS#2 already graduated kindergarten, he was home with me, and I couldn’t leave him home alone while I ran.  My solution: take him with me! He was all for it, and without hesitating, he hopped on his bike and was ready to go!

He may be small, but he can bike pretty fast–faster than I can run, lol!  He was patient with me, and kept slowing down and/or stopping to wait for me, but I still felt the need to hustle and keep up with him as well as I could.  This was my view for most of the run:

Ha ha!  I felt like I had my own Indy 500 Pace Car. 😉 After about 3/4 of a mile, I looked down at my Garmin and saw that I had a damn good pace going–a little under a ten-minute mile.  That has been my goal for a while now, and when I saw that, I decided I was going to try really hard for it today.  (Little did I know how the fates would attempt to conspire against me.) I kept a good, steady pace going as I ran, which also allowed me to keep up with DS#2 pretty well.  Okay, not really, but better than if I were doing an 11-minute mile. 😉

Things were going well until right about the one mile mark, when DS#2 fell.  And of course, being the kind, considerate mom I am, I stopped, picked him up off the ground, and told him to walk it off like a big boy. 😛 Yeah, no mother-of-the-year award for me this year, but he shook it off and seemed to have no lasting effects.  😉 Off we went again! When we got to the main road, which we had to cross, we got lucky and there was no traffic, so we just shot right across and kept going.

By this time I was getting pretty tired, but I still had about a quarter mile to go before I could turn around.  DS#2 was having fun and was very chatty.  That would have been fine, except that he wanted me to answer his questions!  I did the best I could, giving short answers with the little breath I had.  After we turned around, he continued talking away, and I finally told him, “Buddy, I can’t talk.  You talk, but don’t ask me to answer!”

When we got to the main road, I was in for another joy…two gravel haulers and a car, coming from opposite directions! It was tricky trying to get DS#2 across the road without me having to stop running, but we made it across after I did a little back and forth move.  By this time, I was exhausted, and I really wasn’t sure if I could make it home at the pace I was going.  Then, because there just couldn’t be enough problems on this run, one of my neighbor’s dogs came out and started running after me.  Awesome.  The dog was small, but annoying, and eventually he went back to his home.

At that point, I was so, so tired.  My legs were beginning to hurt, which hasn’t happened to me since I first starting running over a month ago.  I just knew that there was no way I was going to be able to keep with the sub-10 pace, so I slowed down a bit, even though it killed me to do it.  DS#2 continued to keep close to me, and then he asked me if I wanted some water.  Ha, not like he had any to give me! 😉 But then he offered to get me some water when we got home, and I told him, in between gasps, that would be great. He said he would go ahead a little at the end and get me some water.  It sounded great to me!

When I hit the 2.5 mile mark, I looked down and was surprised to see I was hovering right around a 10-minute mile for my last lap…about 10:05.  In a moment of stupidity determination, I decided that I wanted that sub-10 overall pace, and I pushed myself harder.  I kept running at that pace, gasping for every breath, and at that point, I could clearly envision how my run would end…I was going to get to 3.0 miles, right in front of my house, and after I stopped my Garmin, I was going to collapse on my lawn.  😛

When we got close to the house, DS#2 sped up ahead, and I heard him yell “Dad’s home!” I didn’t care at that point…I just wanted to be done!! I pushed and pushed, and then, right at my driveway, I hit three miles.  I was done!!  But, just when I was ready to collapse on the lawn (what, you thought I was kidding?), a new obstacle awaited–DS#2 was coming out of the barn, crying, “Mom, my nose is bleeding!”   A spontaneous nosebleed?! WTH?!  He’s never had one of those!

Somehow, though I was barely functional at that point, I managed to take care of his nose.  It did allow me to catch my breath without embarrassing myself in front of my neighbors by laying on my grass, I guess. 😉

I had my husband take this picture while I was still dripping with sweat.

Here’s how the numbers shook out…

Three miles at a sub-10 pace–woot, woot!  I’m not sure if I could ever do it again, but it feels good to have conquered that goal. 😀

Thanks so much for reading!!