Last night, I ran my week 5/day 3, which set the goal of 20 whole minutes, unassisted by walking or a chair or oxygen. I did it, though I had to scale back from my 11.5-mile pace to 12.0 for about five minutes or so. My proudest moment was checking in with my heart rate after it was over and finding:
1) that my heart had not exploded or melted, and;
2) that my heart rate was around 161, much better than my early days of 170+... I don't know, that seems better; I'm not a doctor.
I also had a moment of self-directed frustration with my running playlist, which I normally feel feeds me what I need at the exact moment I need it ("Why, yes, Running Playlist, hearing 'Tik Tok' midway through this portion of my jogging helps me imagine being a more vital being, a young club kid with glam eyeshadow who can pull off fishnets and can put my hands up at 3:00 AM in a club, when in reality, that is far past my bedtime, and clubs are too loud."). However, in a moment of jokey joking wokka wokkery, I put Vangelis's theme to Chariots of Fire in the mix. This is a track I purchased long before I started all this exercise nonsense in order to illustrate a visual gag, not the first or the last time I've purchased a song on a whim with my Fire Kindling.
Needless to say, when you just bleep-blooped the treadmill down several pace units, it's not the time for the gradual majesticness of the opening strains of the theme to Chariots of Fire. I appreciate where you're coming from, Jessie, but the joke doesn't really land when you're straining to believe that you have the internal fortitude to get through the next 10 minutes of perspiration and redface.
I skipped over to "Two of Hearts" by Stacey Q instead.
Gah! I love, love, love this. You are doing a great job. From someone who has started running and restarted running many, many times over the years, even knocking it back to a 12-minute pace is nothing to sneeze at. My most comfortable pace right now is 12:30. I don't have the mental fortitude to create my own mixes, so I let www.rockmyrun.com do it for me. Hope you have a great finish to week 5!
ReplyDeleteLori--thanks so much for all the encouragement! I have to admit that my running playlist currently looks a little kooky--Ke$ha and Britney and Emmylou Harris and Avett Brothers--but I don't know where I'd be without it.
ReplyDeleteDo you blog about bees, or are those just your follows?
I admire your determination to run, esepcially on the treadmill, because I hate running and treadmills. I will walk, elliptical, do jumping jacks, whatever. I despise running, and treadmills make me feel like I'm going to die. As in, fly off of the back and die.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid of the weight machines (because I'll be crushed in one like it's a compactor). We all have something that terrifies us at the gym. ;-)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on an awesome milestone.
ReplyDeleteThank you much! Hooray! I live to talk about it another day!
DeleteNothing ruins a run worse than a shitty playlist. Get that Chariots of Fire off yours.
ReplyDeleteBut at least it has now been used in *two* jokes, so maybe it has paid for itself?
Yeah, I think I've finally gotten my nickel's worth at this point. It can go live in the clouds with the other jokey joke purchases.
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