More on that whole 10K Thing

While training for the 10K, I used this schedule, wore these shoes (I know, I know, but they got rid of my plantar fascitis immediately) and listened to this playlist:





Towards the end of the ten weeks, I started substituting relaxed 4-5 mile runs for the intervals. Unfortunately, the week before the race was finals week at school so I barely trained at all, and then spent most of the days leading up just getting acclimated to the altitude in Boulder. I ended up walking about half of it, and I think if I'd kept up the training plan towards the end running the whole thing wouldn't have been a problem.

Around the 7th kilometer, I realized that this was something that I really could do, and I had a kind of breakthrough (for lack of a better word) about my body. I suddenly believed, truly, that being fit, and strong was more important than how I looked. I had faith in the whole of my body, even the parts that I feel insecure about. Suddenly, it wasn't something that I had to fight with and hide and change for the world but a vessel that was going to take me where I needed to go, that I could push and challenge and it was pretty great.

I'm not really a fitness-y person, but that feeling was really infectious, and I want to feel it again. I don't think I'll ever be one of those scary runner people who stops by the side of the road to take their pulse and says things like, "gait" and "hydration packs" but a lot of that is because I am totally grossed out by my pulse.
Still, since the race, it's been easier than ever to get myself to run, and it's more fun than it was while I was training. Some of that might be the zombie scare. If you're a catastrophist like me, reading the news, putting on "Run Through The Jungle" and going for a run at dusk is a really good way to get yourself in Zombie Apocalypse shape fast.