Running with Reno Running and Fitness, February 2, 2010

First day on the east coast, one day away from my departure to the Middle East, I decided to take a run on the treadmill in my hotel. I haven’t run on a treadmill for a long time and it was a little rough. I did hit my stride when I decided to imagine that I was running at the Marina, on our usual Tuesday night run. It was 5:30 pacific time and knowing that Ivy and Becky (and the rest our ultra runners) were probably already running, I imagined that I was trying to catch them. I could see myself going around the Marina, with my dog, Molly.

I also began to reflect on my last deployment the Middle East, to Karshi Khanabad (K2) in Uzbekistan, 5 years ago. That was when I began running (because they made me!), and I began on the treadmill. There are a few differences between then and now:

Then: tough out one mile and be miserable the whole time because I am out of breath.
Now: tough out six miles and be miserable because I’m indoors. 


Then: watch the clock like a hawk, praying for it to end.
Now: watch the miles like a hawk, going for 6, praying that my imaginary dog would stop to pee, cause I’d be a wimp if stopped because I had to.

Then: start fast and poop out in the first 10 minutes.
Now: start at 11 minute pace and speed up gradually; hit 9:30 pace for the last mile.

Then: listen to music on my Compact Disc Walkman.
Now: listen to music on my cell phone walkman, with wireless headset.

Then: every minute spent running is a major, lifetime achievement.
Now: every mile spent running goes down in my log book, towards my goal of 1000 miles in 2010.

Then: Stop short by .1 miles because it is close enough.
Now: Go an extra .1 miles so I can try to beat my best 10K time (I did, at 1:02). I decided to do this with ½ a mile left because I imagined I was catching up to Jen at the Turkey Trot!

Then: Piss and moan about how hot it is in here, hate every mile.
Now: Piss and moan about how hot it is in here, but still enjoy the miles. 


So, some things never change! I can’t wait to get running in the desert. It will get extremely hot where I am going, so it occurred to me that I best get used to it.

A couple of other things have also changed, that are worth mention: I have run with Reno Running and Fitness for a year and I've got a couple of Pendola conditioning classes under my belt. Those lessons in running psychology--don't think, don't think!, and running economy have really paid off.

Enjoy the miles…