The 3 A.M. Running Decision

I went to bed at about 10:30 last night and woke up at 3 A.M. which was two hours before my alarm clock was supposed to wake me. So what can I do but lie in bed and contemplate on what to do four hours hence? Do the run/walk for 13.1 miles like the past two Saturdays, or attempt to run the whole way for 6.2 miles? Thinking about it was probably the reason why I couldn’t go back to sleep. Well the final decision was try to run the 6.2 miles non-stop and I knew exactly the people who could help me do that because they run a decent and controlled pace – Kim and Rick. Even though I knew I could keep up with them, I was a little bit apprehensive because I haven’t run more than 40 minutes continuously in the past three weeks. Sure I have run/walked longer, but that gave my right ankle a break from the pounding. Running non-stop stresses the ankle more and my left leg has to bear most of my weight too. Today was supposed to mimic race conditions but I wasn’t even concerned about that, I was just concerned about my ankle condition.

I arrived at the starting line early so I was able to do about a five minute warm up, then I started looking for Kim and Rick. I didn’t see them right away so I thought they were not going to show up and I would have to find someone else to pace off from. I was so relieved when I finally saw them and stuck to them like a leech when the run got started. As expected their pace was very steady as Rick was telling us about the vacation he just returned from. In the meantime I was monitoring my ankle for any unusual pain. Kim and Rick were checking on me frequently to ask how I felt and so far the run was going well for me. With two miles to go they had to do a quick water fountain stop so I continued on my own. I felt a little twinge of pain on a downhill portion at about the six mile point but it seemed to even itself out. I made it to the finish line in 1 hour, 1 minute, and 16 seconds which translated to an average pace of 9:53 per mile which isn’t so bad because that was about my pace when the training season started in late May. What a relief! Now all I have to do is rest and ice my joints then go to work tonight, which may even be more difficult than running 6.2 miles continuously.

Thank you so much Kim and Rick for enabling me to finish today’s run. With your help you made me believe that I can still do it and that I made the right 3 A.M. decision.