Sometimes, it's just plain spiritual

I decided that I really want to run a race...like, now.  Even though it isn't going to do much for marathon training, I'm going to do my part to save the ta-tas this coming Saturday, the 2nd of October.  With that being said, I considered jumping on the track to do an intense speed workout this week.  I changed my mind, mainly because that wouldn't have helped much; therefore, the Komen Race is simply going to be viewed as a 3.1-mile tempo run and a chance to see if I have any speed.

In lieu of the track workout I headed over to McAlpine to do a "fartlek" workout on the greenway and the course.  A fartlek can basically be described as a timed interval workout, usually involving a certain amount of time running hard/race pace and a certain amount of time running slow - repeated over a pre-determined distance or time.  I decided mine was going to be a 5-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4-5, with five minutes hard, five easy, four hard, four easy, etc., etc.  I would also precede this with a 16-minute warmup at an easy pace and scrap the final five minutes easy.  All this means I would be running a total of 71 minutes, with 30 minutes of that being done at a "hard" pace. 

I came through the 2-mile mark on the greenway in 15:26 before continuing a slow trot to the 16-minute mark, and then I took off on the greenway in the direction of Harris Boulevard.  When the watch read 21:00 I slowed way down, then took off again when it read 26:00 and repeated that routine for the times listed above.  The anticipation of seeing the watch creep ever higher during your slow runs, knowing that pain is right around the corner, makes this a particularly intense workout.  I wasn't completely sure of my pace the whole time but I clocked mile splits of 7:24, 7:19, and 7:14 at certain points, which told me that I had to have been running low-6 pace on the hard sections.  I was barely moving on the slow sections.  (I eventually mapped my run online and realized I had run a total of 9.6 miles in 1 hour, 11 minutes for an average mile of 7:23.  Not too shabby considering 41 of those 71 minutes were at 8:00 pace or much slower.)  I was on the course when I started the final interval - five minutes hard - and as I came around the double u-turns right after the 1-mile mark I realized I was going just fast enough to have to finish this thing on the hill (there is one big hill on McAlpine's 5k course, and it is located right in the middle of mile #2).  I took off up the hill and about halfway up an overwhelming chill came over my entire body, and whatever air I had left was sucked right away.  Total.  Oxygen.  Debt.  Eureka!  I pushed all the way up the hill, saw the watch read "1:11:00" and crumbled to a heap at the top.  "I bet that's what it feels like to come down from an acid trip," I coughed aloud to the surrounding owls, snakes, and insects. 

That last sentence brings me to another thought - this was one of the most spiritual runs I have ever had.  Counting my 2-mile limp/cooldown back to the car, I spent an hour and twenty-nine minutes on the greenway and probably saw about five people the whole time.  Pure, amazing, inspirational loneliness.

That's what it's like to be a distance runner: sometimes it's just you, the course, and that god-forsaken stopwatch.  Maybe I made some new fans amongst the copperheads.