« Pondering | Main | Winter Marathon Goal & Beyond »
October 21, 2004
Paranoia
I ran an easy 50 minutes on Fairfax County Parkway, gloomy and drizzly (is that a word?). Because I took the previous two days off with my hamstring/IT band pain, it took a bit to warm up. Outbound on the trail, I saw three shady-looking guys on bikes. With several recent attacks on our local trails, I try to be super aware of people I see when running alone. And it reminded me that I should probably start carrying the mace can/hand weight that my mom bought for me, with the days getting shorter. Anyhow, being overly paranoid, I ran a little further than planned hoping to avoid them on the return trip, and I also thought about what I would say to them (in Spanish) if they were to accost me. Things like "I'm a cop! See my GPS? You won't get away!" or "I'm a Marine! I'm not scared of you!" Okay, so I'm not a cop and yea, I'm a big dork. But you gotta be prepared, ya know?
For the rest of my run, I thought about feeling strong at Army Ten Miler on Sunday. I know it won't be a PR, but I do want to put forth max effort without pressuring myself. Is that possible? We'll see. I realize that my best races are ones that I don't overanalyze/stress myself and just have FUN. Remember, I love to run. My plan is to start easy, not to let others dictate my pace early, and try for negative splits.
I had planned to start cracking on my task list when I got home, but I went to the gym instead and lifted with R. It will save me some time tomorrow because I need to pick up my race packet and go to the chiropractor before work tomorrow evening. Oh yeah, no luck for now...looks like we still have to work night and weekend shifts, despite the fact our customer is in violation of the Statement of Work. Argh, I won't get started on that. This entry would end up being a novel.
Posted by Leilani at October 21, 2004 10:10 PM