Last night I ran outside. And I'll be whining for a week because I ran outside. I find running outside extremely hard as it is up to my feet to set the pace and there is no clock that I can use to track my running progress. On the treadmill, you select the incline and speed levels and run to your heart's content. The treadmill sets the pace. And there are no sidewalk cracks, barking dogs and traffic to contend with like there is when running outside. But I need to suck it up because the last time I looked the two 5k races I signed up for aren't being held inside on treadmills.
The first time I ran outside was a gongshow. About 30 seconds into my run I had to stop. I was already out of breath. I was so discouraged. I walked for a bit and then ran again. I tried to remain true to running of four minutes and walking one, but it was hard to determine where I was as I had no watch. So I went by the songs on my ipod that are about four minutes in length. I had to walk a couple of times during my blocks, but during the sixth block I ran four minutes straight. Even though at the time I thought I may need to throw up in the bushes, it was a proud moment because running four minutes straight outside is not that easy.
But running outside has its advantages. There is no need to drive to the gym and fight for a treadmill as I can step outside my front door and run. I don't feel as overheated as I do when running inside. As per usual, the first part of yesterday's run was a gongshow. I made it to about a minute before I had to stop and walk. I was gasping for breath. I'm still wondering why this is so darn hard, but it is a work in progress. For the next 10 minutes I ran and walked, ran and walked. I wasn't even finishing blocks. I eventually got to the point where I ran straight through two songs, walked for two minutes, before running again, this time through two and a half songs, which equals to be about 10 to 11 minutes. Not bad, considering the rocky start I had.
On Sunday, I told my running coach and friend that I ran 20 minutes straight last week. Great, she said. We'll run straight when we run outside on Friday. Awesome, I thought to myselfI think I just shot myself in the foot.
As they say, no pain, no gain. Although I can predict I'll be taking some running breaks, here's hoping I can run 5k.
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