I signed up to do the Fifth 3rd (or is it 5th third? or 5/3?) River Bank run in Grand Rapids. The race is on May 8th...a lifetime away. It is a 25K race...which i thought was 15 miles. Looking on the map of the route from the website, it is 15.64. Um...that is .64 more miles than I was planning. Deep breaths...
Apparently it is the largest (probably only!) 25K in the country. There are 18,000 participants (including 10K and 5K runners, and hand cyclists too). No pressure. I guess that is chump change in comparison to NY Marathon's 40,000 runners in the Fall. I figured it would be something to get me going in training for the marathon. If I can't do 15 (.64-hmph), there is no way in hell I can do 26. (.2 if we are getting technical, which most runners are).
I pulled out the DeWitt school calendar to count back the weeks until the race. I am planning on doing Hal Higdon's intermediate half marathon training guide (http://www.halhigdon.com/halfmarathon/inter.htm ) which is a 12 week program to get you to 13 miles. So, I figured I'd add another 2 weeks to get my mileage up to where it needs to be. Plenty of time to train. May is SO far away, right? Week 1 of training landed me at the week of January 25th. When is that?? Um...isn't that this week? Seriously???
So after dropping Sam off at preschool, I hauled my ass over to the YMCA (i am telling you, it's my home away from home...). I followed Hal's words of wisdom and did a speed workout of 5x400 meters - which is after you warm up, running a fast pace for a "lap" around the treadmill track and then slow jog for half that distance. You do that 5 times and then cool down. Eventually Hal wants you to do this 10 times. I think Hal is on crack.
I won't go into details but it wasn't pretty. I know my face was splotchy and dripping in sweat. I was gasping for breath as I finished the last interval. A cute woman with Down's Syndrome was on the treadmill next to mine, sweating it out at her 1.5 setting, God love her. I noticed her watching me pant and heave. When I stopped she looked at me and shouted "YOU GO GIRL!!!!!" and held out her hand. I blurted back "No, you go girl!!!" and slapped her five.
I just wanted to give her a sweaty big hug b/c it made that workout totally worth it. I hope she's there when I do 10 x 400 meters!!
Oh my gosh I love them all. I totally wish I could have been there today. It just makes it all worth it :) little did she know she just made your day and little did you know you made her day. Something so simple but something so sweet....
ReplyDelete(Here's my second attempt @ a comment; not sure what happened to my first . . .)
ReplyDeleteI love this post, Kim. It chokes me up. Like Sara said, so simple and sweet ~ as only the best people and things in life are.