Shaughnessy 8 km run was today. It became very apparent that I was in over my head with all the hills in the Kerrisdale area when I found myself walking up the first hill. The 2 times that I trained prior to this run was at the track which is obviously completely flat. I will have to make sure I include hill training next time. Also, the continued running up and down the hills put a lot of stress on my ankles and knees and I even started to get a cramp on my right side. No excuses though-shame on me for not training enough. The funny thing is that when the Contender theme song came on, it got me pumped but what really carried me through the run at the end was this really old lady who was running atleast 20 meters ahead of me and we were running up a hill. I thought oh my god, I can't give up...I have to keep running up this hill 'coz this old lady is doing it and wtf why is she ahead of me! She was my inspiration and gave me more motivation than any song could've given me. The Contender boxers are young, strong, male athletes in their prime but here is this old lady with grey hair and who had to be atleast 70 yrs. old, kicking my butt up the hill. I was actually struggling to catch up to her. I eventually passed her but I felt bad because....because....well because she is like 70!!! So, in short, it was an eye opening experience for me. I know what I need to work on now.
Race Results here
I came in 374 out of 413....pretty embarassing...I just read through the results and apparently there were two ladies in the 70-74 age range. One finished 5 mins earlier than me and the other finished it just 13 secs after me!!! ugh!!!
Everytime I run, there is so much conflict and mental struggle in my head. While running, I always find I'm questioning myself as to why I continue to torture myself. Yet I still continue to sign myself up for these things. I have come to realize that I really don't like the act of running itself that much but maybe its the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment that I get for sticking through with it to the end. I've never been great at long distance running. I was always a sprinter in track and field. One day my coach signed me up for a long distance run at a track meet. I was furious as it was not one of the events that I usually enter in. I remember it started to rain half way through the race and I remember it being a huge struggle. But I also remember how pleased I was at myself for finishing it and I think this is how it will always be.
