5 Mile Recap

On Friday, as you know, I ran five miles. And I survived. And I kind of liked it, even though nothing really went as planned. But let's start from the beginning.

A few weeks ago, I declared that I would run five miles on Thanksgiving. Obviously, Friday was not Thanksgiving. Explanation? My family was beginning their celebration in Connecticut at 1pm. To get up, run 5 miles, get ready in nice clothes, sit in traffic on the Mass Pike, AND make it to my grandparents on time would have required an extremely early wake-up call, and no offense to running and goals, but it wasn't going to happen. So I pushed it to Friday. It was actually a fantastic idea too because I didn't drink nearly as much as I would have if I'd not had to get up.

So Friday, I got up bright and early (we have to leave for VT by 9am, so I still had to get up early, but not AS early) for a solo 5 miles. Remember how my sister was going to run with me? Well that didn't happen either. She wasn't feeling well, but I knew I couldn't use her as an excuse, so I suited up and headed out the door. But without my iPod, since it was dead. And I only got as far as my front steps when my Garmin died. Poor planning, Maddie. I'd mapped the route before hand, so I didn't really need my Garmin for distance, so I ditched it and grabbed my phone instead. The phone would serve as a safety measure, music and picture device.

But, it takes crappy pictures, like this one.

Crappy picture or not, that view definitely got me pumped up. It was so still and quiet in the city, and it felt so good to be pounding the pavement instead of nursing a hang over (not that I don't do that my fair share...it just wasn't the case on Friday.

As I said, I'd mapped out the miles already, and it was broken up pretty nicely. The first mile and a little took me along the river, and I'd round out mile two after crossing the Mass Ave bridge. It's kind of a beast (although nothing compared to the Longfellow), but I tackled it once last week so I knew I could handle it.

I felt great through mile two, and was happy to round into mile three. Mile three and four were my old running route I used to do almost daily last summer from my old apartment. One mile to the Public Garden. One mile back. I miss that route a lot because it's SO pretty, and I actually love running on the brick sidewalks. I've yet to eat it, although I'm sure some day I will.

When I got to the garden, I stopped for about three minutes. At this point, I had not actually had any music for about two miles. My phone was being really annoying and was not streaming music. Fail number 6234 for the morning. I hadn't wanted to stop before, being afraid that I'd throw myself off my game, but I really knew I needed music to power through the last two miles, despite the gorgeous scenery.

The music lasted for all of like 4 minutes before it wouldn't stream again, but I just wanted to be done. Mile 4-4.5ish was rough. Like I was going a snails pace rough. But I hadn't walked yet, and I wasn't about it. So I busted it out and finished! Mile 4.5-5 was awesome. I was on cloud 9. I still wasn't going fast, BUT I was doing it! And I did it! It took me few minutes long than I'd hoped for, but like I said, I am just so proud of myself! I did stop to stretch my legs 4 different times (about 30 seconds each time, except for the big stop near the garden), but I didn't walk once. I ran all five of those miles. Boo. Yah.

I know that lots of people run 5 miles all the time. Or more than 5 miles all the time. But this was a big one for me. Mentally, I wasn't sure I could do it, but now it doesn't seem so bad. I've done it once, and I didn't even come close to dying, so I know I can do it again. I'm ready for a 10k on Saturday, and I'm just hoping I feel as good...and I'll have a full charged Garmin and iPod before I even think about leaving the house...