I was down with the cold last week. When I felt better the weather turned chilly, and laziness took over. My last long run was about 2 weeks ago with nothing since then, and my half marathon is this Sunday. Finally feeling guilty, I decided to go for a short run today after class. The goal was 8ks. I ran to Centennial Park (~1k), but before I reached the main entrance I was already feeling rotten. Although it was sunny the winds were strong; I was gasping for breath and wanted to turn back. Once I reached the park I decided to just take it easy, slow down and take walking breaks every 8-10 minutes. That didn't work well either. I could not decide whether to leave my windbreaker on, my nose started to run from the cold air, my breathing became worse because of the runny nose etc. Miserable. I wanted to quit after 1 round, but not being able to run even 5 ks a few days before a half is embarrassing. I kept going.
Surprisingly, when I finished the 2 rounds and checked my watch, I had managed to shave 1.5 minutes off my usual time for the same distance. That was inclusive of the walk breaks and water stops. Despite how I felt throughout, it turned out to be an OK run.
So it is true, those motivational books about running marathons. All it takes is the first step. And maybe some tissue paper next time.
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