Monday, February 26, 2007

I think I can...

Saturday morning I headed to the gym to complete my long run. It was starting to snow, and I had thought about riding to the gym with one of the neighbors and running home, but... It was a bit to cold and windy, and was sleeting.

I got there and the parking lot was, in addition to slick, very full. As I walked by the glass, I noticed all the treadmills were full. Got in, took off my boots and put my coat away. In scanning the treadmills, I noticed one open. Sprinted, without being to obvious, and staked my claim.

In starting, I noticed that I managed to get the only treadmill that directly faces a wall, but at least had a window on either side. A blank, white wall. Everything else was busy so I got going. In the first tenth of a mile, I wondered what I was getting myself into.

Pretty soon I found a grove, and a speed, that was working for me. On and on I went. People came and left. I'd see cars pull in, the driver get out, and seemingly a short time later see them leave. People would come to the left or right of me, do their thing, and leave twenty, twenty five, or thirty minutes later. On and on I went. Huffing and puffing and chugging along. I'd glance at the screen every so often, but more often than not, I'd be glancing to the left out the window, watching the snow and ice pile up on my car.

Then the treadmill stopped. It is set to cut off after sixty minutes. I reset it as fast as I could and kept on going. On and on I went.

Something I realized, I'm a lot stronger than I give myself credit for. It is such the mental game. I had to talk myself out of going slower dozens, if not hundreds of time. Though, at this point in the training, I can't look ahead eight to ten weeks when I'll be doing 35-40 miles a week. I'm just looking at the next week. Three miles on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday - five miles on Saturday. I can do that next week. As my mileage progresses, I'll be ready for the next week, one week at a time.

In the same amount of time I did six miles last week, I did seven this week.

6 comments:

Mitzi Green said...

7 miles? jesus, will you stop already? you're making the rest of us look bad. except for tree, but she's been making us look bad for years now so she doesn't count.

i wish i could run. i just can't do it. call it lack of self-discipline, call it adult ADD, call it shin splints and bad knees, i just can't do it. i've never been able to, not even in high school or before that. i have, however, been spending 30 minutes on the elliptical (that's when my feet go numb), then 20 on the bike and another 10 on the treadmill--walking. just don't ever challenge me to a race.

Tree said...

GREAT job, G!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are so right. It is mental. Completely mental.

You can do this!

Dan said...

Excellent stuff Gretchen :) Well done!

I used to love running cross country - hopefully one day I can get back into it..

LID said...

*clap hands* for G! One word... WOW!

Unknown said...

I am jumping up and down in my chair for you!!!

Multi-tasking Mommy said...

You go girl!
I'm very proud of you.