53 Revolutions Around the Sun and 13 Years of Running

This week I celebrated my 53rd birthday - which also represents the 13th birthday of when I really started running.  My regular running began with a bucket list item to run a 5K without stopping for my 40th birthday (I had never run more than 2 miles before).  So after following a run - walk training plan I ran the 2002 Autumn Run 5K.  That race has been replaced on the Track Shack calendar with the RockNRun 5K, which I ran yesterday on my birthday!

I am not in 5K PR shape - and trying to run it fast would make the experience less enjoyable - so I decided to slow it down, have a good time at the race, and just celebrate life.  I did challenge myself - I ran the entire distance except for the water stop around the halfway point and for this picture at mile 3 near Blaine the Mono (who totally rocked it on the course).  With my easy pace I finished in 31:05 - about 5 min faster than that first 5K I ran 13 years ago.

Today I was scheduled for an 8 mile long run, but after enjoying a bit more wine than normal last night, I slept in and woke up feeling the usual morning after effects of alcohol.  My head was a bit achy and stomach was not thrilled - but it wasn't horrible.  The idea of running was tempting, but I decided to "google" whether running with a hangover was a good idea.  It turns out that running the day after can be beneficial in helping your body rid itself of all that evil alcohol from the night before.  It wouldn't be the best run, but it can be done.

So I popped a couple of ibuprofen, drank some extra water and had a Honey Stinger gel to get something in me.  I also figured I would break the run up into shorter distances and stop back at the house so I had the option to stop if things were not going well.  I set my Garmin to go off every min so I would take a slower run 1 minute/ walk 1 min approach.  It was late morning, not my best time for running, so I figured I would head out and see how it goes.

I ran out 2 miles from the house and turned to head back for a refill of my small water bottle.  As I approached the house it started to rain and feel cooler.  I love running in the rain and felt like I really needed to run in that.  I also felt pretty good, so I quickly refilled my water and headed out for another 4 miles.  The 4 miles in the rain felt amazing and I was enjoying every bit of it.  I felt like I was flying...and ran my 8th mile faster than all the others: in 11 min flat.  The birthday gifts continue!

I realized I didn't post last week, so here is the next episode of the Running Adventure's Podcast.  The original post for the podcast can be found at here.