Week One Day One

I mapped a one mile course from my house that I'd run three times, stopping for water after each mile. I have a tendency to not sweat properly and so get over-heated easily. It's still cool in the early morning but I didn't want to take any chances. I used the super helpful site MapMyRun to make the course.

I completed the 3 miles in 40 minutes. I stared out at 6:15am. The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer asks us to log our "Ratings of Perceived Exertion" or "RPE." Basically to note how difficult the run felt. I logged this one as a 4 (somewhat hard effort) on a 10 point scale.

My first mile I completed in 11 minutes without walking. My second mile I completed in 13 minutes with 6 minutes of walking. The last mile I completed in 16 minutes with 11 minutes of walking. Every mile I stopped at my house for water and to stretch out my legs. My calf and shin muscles were extremely tight.

I think I'll walk some of the first mile tomorrow so that I can maintain more balanced miles. Overall, it wasn't as terrible as I feared. I didn't hurt myself and I completed it. With lots of sweating and walking, but I completed it. And that's what I'm here to do. To run until it's time to stop. Motivation is easier when I know I HAVE to run to this much if I want to do the marathon.

I always like stretching afterward. Lately my low back has been aching and the stretches really help. My legs were weak directly after the run but throughout the day I had no aches.

I didn't need to focus too much in order to finish but I did have a couple things running through my head during the run: "You have to run" and "Just run until it's time to stop" and "This is a great mile! Next mile will be a great mile!"

Lastly, I'm reading Haruki Murakami's memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. He's an author I really like and his perspective on running and writing is interesting. He's about two decades into his running career so a little out of my league just yet but helpful nonetheless. I've found that although running is a solitary thing I really get motivation from other people's experiences and words. I think I'll keep looking out for running memoirs.

Let's Running.