Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Stick a Fork in Me

Because I’m done, baby! Rather than running at lunch today, I took a half hour to finish my last paper, which was due tomorrow, and hand in that paper and another project to call this semester a wrippity-wrap.

Ahh, the finish line!Deep breath. Yeah!

To celebrate, I've included my "finish line" photo from the Cleveland 10-miler... which looks strangely similar to my finish-line face after handing in my last assignments today.

With all that weight off my shoulders, I was free to take off into the sunset for a 6.54-mile run after work. It was hotter than early May out there (a little muggy and lower 80s) and turned out to be my longest warm-weather run to date. I’m a wheezer at weather like that, but my easing tension made way for far greater focus on my running than usual. In fact, you would have been so proud: my pace is finally up… or down…. well, getting better for distance building at 8:17/mile. It’s not perfect, but I’m slowing it down.

And I’m finally getting back to using my HRM, but need to get back to understanding my levels first. It’s not that I have a difficult time understanding; it’s more like me and euchre: you can teach me a million times… but if I don’t use that knowledge, I will never remember.

Something tells me, however, that I’m due for a swim. I had a dream last night that I was heading into my first triathlon and found out on race day morning that you had to swim all butterfly for the first leg. In open water. Oh, and did I mention that it was a half Ironman? It’s just wrong to think about that.

It’ll be so nice to get my life back. Until fall.

8 comments:

Jim said...

Great photo! That's how we ALL should look crossing our proverbial finish lines in life - full of satisfaction for a job well done and a goal completed.

It's sooo funny you mentioned the t-shirt exchange in your comment on my blog: Just yesterday I wore my Kent State shirt while doing Muscle Pump class at the Y. (It had been at the bottom of my stack of shirts and I haven't worn it in ages) It must have some sort of hidden energy field sewn in it because I felt GREAT and hauled weights and did squats like a mad man!

Weather here went from 90-95 early last week to the 60s-70s beginning last Thursday. It's been cool ever since - knock on wood.

Unknown said...

An all butterfly 1/2 IM swim. Scary!!! I've just ventured back into running in the heat of the day. It just reminds me why I like running at 5:15 a.m. Great blog. I'll be back!

JenC said...

Hooray! Congrats on being done and on your speedy times! Your finish line pic looks great. Mine was not so happy. Stupid cold rain! : )

Oh, and to answer your question. I am doing the Cleveland half-marathon and possibly the Greater Cleveland Olympic distance triathlon locally. All of my other scheduled races are out of town. Which triathlons are you doing this year?

The Salty One said...

That is the cutest race photo ever!! I always look either really intense, really pissed off, or really in pain--heh! You've inspired me. I'm going to try smiling next time--there's a thought!

This morning it was already hot and sticky at 6AM. Be careful out there today!

Jim said...

PS....I'm not sure if I shared this link about heart rate intensity with you, but here it is (again). Very informative for us non-World Class (yet) athletes about the dangers of overdoing it.

http://www.masterskier.com/article.asp?AID=183

Jim said...

This is another good HR monitoring article:

http://www.masterskier.com/article.asp?aid=314

Papa Louie said...

Enjoy your break from the books. You might wan to learn how to do the butterfly just in case.

miss petite america said...

awesome picture!

you look so fresh faced and happy!!