Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday!

T-Day #8... What a day for Team #JoelleStrong!

My new running buddy (a.k.a. My mum) and I decided to go back to the nicer track in metropolis, not the one in the 'burbs. With that choice made, we were off to a great start! (That track, "The Big Blue Monster", is bigger and nicer. It also doesn't smell like children's tears and death)

I had an hour to spare before my mom met up with me, so I decided to go for the run-walk-run method Mr. Jeff Galloway kindly shared with the world. I prepped my playlist beforehand, I showed up prepared (cellphone holster, headphones, training socks, and wristwatch), and even found myself a nice little Princess Parking!

The track was packed, but it's so big it didn't feel like I was about to do circuits in a Tupperware bowl. I stretched this time, although it was mostly ballet + yoga stretching- I have to check if there's a specific routine for runners. I downloaded RunKeeper on my phone, and I set it up with my playlist. I was all set and ready to go!

Entering a track like this one feels like reentering a Formula 1 race track after getting your tires changed. Everyone else's engines are purring like a happy cat, and you have to catch up with them. I did my first walk around the track like a speed-walking grandma at a mall. For the second round I walked the curve side, and jogged the straight side. Turns out, it worked!


RunKeeper has a little elf that narrates updates of how you're doing. I'll admit that while running, I was listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Billy Joel, and Tupac (don't judge my mix!), so I was barely paying attention to the elf, until...

" Yadda, yadda... Four miles...blah, blah, blah..."

"Four miles? Say WHA'?" I asked myself as I ripped off my armband to check the app. FOUR MILES, indeed! I was SO happy that I almost bit off my earlobes from smiling so hard! How exciting! I know it doesn't sound like much, but breaking your own One-point-something-mile record is pretty amazing. I wanted to chassé my way around the track in celebration, but Momma Nature had something else in mind. 

As I was going for my 5th(!) mile, some grey clouds decided to gather around and watch the show. I must have been doing either great or terrible, that the clouds began to cry. (Hey, this time I was singing in my head, not out loud!). At first it was a light sprinkle, and I went on mostly because it felt really nice and I'm actually not made of Alka-Seltzer.  

It stopped for a minute or two, the wind blew hard enough to make me feel like Mary Poppin's umbrella, and then it really started to pour. I was on the opposite side of the shelter with the bathrooms, showers, and water fountain, and I could not go across the middle field because it was a muddy mess. 

What was I to do? RUN.  Like a crazy horse. 

Just like my good old field days back in elementary school, I ran as hard as I could to cover the short distance as quickly as possible. The raindrops were so big I was also running with only one eye open, and as if I had someone in front of me with a hose to my face. By the time I was out of breath and able to open the water-ambushed eye, I realized I had ran 3/4 of the track with that pace. I also realized I needed to do something important, like breathing. 

Once my wild galloping stopped, I decided to walk the rest of the afternoon. My mom joined 45min. later and surprised me with some non-triumphant pics of me while running. Once I got over that, I joined my mom in some speed walking, as we got rained on, again, until we finished a 2.05 mile walk. 

I think, for me, this was a GOOD day. Hopefully, tomorrow will go just as well. 
As you can imagine, I'll sleep again like a sloth on valium. 
Bon Nuit! 
B